Alberta teachers union to comply with back-to-work order but urges members to reconsider extra duties

October 28, 2025

RED FM News Desk

The head of Alberta’s teachers union says educators will comply with the provincial government’s back-to-work order and will not participate in illegal job actions such as work-to-rule.

Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said Tuesday that while work-to-rule could result in significant fines, he is encouraging teachers to reconsider how much of their own time they voluntarily contribute to school activities.

“They need to evaluate, and re-evaluate, how they’re spending their voluntary time at school,” Schilling said during a news conference. “For instance, I used to coach cross-country and direct the drama play. Maybe I’m not going to direct the drama play next year. You take my rights away? Then I’m going to re-evaluate the voluntary nature of my job.”

Schilling’s comments came a day after Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced and swiftly passed legislation ordering roughly 51,000 teachers back to work on Wednesday. The move ends a three-week strike over wages and working conditions that kept more than 740,000 students out of classrooms in what became the largest teacher walkout in Alberta’s history.

The bill invokes the Charter’s notwithstanding clause, shielding it from potential court challenges over violations of teachers’ constitutional right to freedom of association. It also carries steep penalties for defiance: up to $500 per day for individual teachers and $500,000 per day for the ATA.

Schilling said the union is still considering possible legal action but declined to offer details. “We’ll have to leave it up to the experts who we work with in terms of our lawyers about how we move forward with that,” he said.

The core of the dispute centred on teachers’ demands for meaningful solutions to address overcrowded classrooms and insufficient supports for students with special needs.

Smith’s government has pledged to hire 3,000 additional teachers and convene a panel to examine class sizes and learning conditions. Schilling said the ATA expects to be directly involved in that process.

“This government needs to clearly articulate a plan to make it more conducive to the level of teaching and learning that Alberta students and teachers deserve,” he said. “We are tired simply of being invited to be participants in government committees and action groups. We want to be partners rather than props.”