How it works is this:

By ordering the teachers back to work, the government knowingly violated the teachers’ Constitutionally guaranteed right to withhold their service. It’s an egregious, bold move that they knew they would lose in court, so they invoked the Notwithstanding Clause with the intention of denying the teachers access to the courts. Egregious, indeed. In fact, ATA President Jason Shilling calls it “a reckless and historic abuse of power”. We agree with that. Shilling also says that Teachers “will pursue all legal alternatives to challenge Bill 2”.’

So, what’s next?

We remain deeply concerned with this gross violation of the foundational principles of collective bargaining. If it does not meet with historic resistance, it WILL happen again. It’s only a matter of time. The question is not whether but who? The Alberta Federation of Labour is meeting almost constantly with members of the Fed and the Common Front. A General Strike is not ruled out. ATU Locals 569 and 583 in both Edmonton and Calgary are playing a lead role in these discussions. Other leaders in the discussions are UFCW, Health Sciences, United Steel Workers and others. We are not alone. A meeting of this “Group of the Willing” will go ahead tomorrow about noon. Subsequently, on Thursday, there will be a further meeting of the larger Common Front group. It’s expected that clear decisions of the way forward will come out of these meetings and we’ll be reporting back to you immediately after that.

If there’s a decision to go with a General Strike, what will that look like?

It can be a lot of things. From an all-out shutdown of everything and everybody to a one-hour protest shutdown on a rotating basis. And everything in between.

Are we legally allowed to participate in a General Strike?

Our collective agreements all have a clause in them that guarantees “No Strike, No Lockout”. This means that, if we withhold our service – participate in a strike – we would violate our collective agreement. The employer would be within its collective agreement purview in imposing discipline. That’s where there’s strength in numbers. If all or most of us go out, or participate in a rotating schedule, well, they can’t suspend us all. They still have a service to provide and that would just make matters worse and would make them as culpable as us. And to be sure, your Union will stick by you. Another thing to keep in mind is that even employers are struck by the sheer audacity of the Government’s move. Use of such a power tool is without precedent in this province, and it can surely be used in other areas, for example Municipal Councils.

That’s it for now. Please watch your inbox for further updates as the situation unfolds.

In Solidarity,
Steve