“We are deeply concerned and disappointed with the decision of the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) to break off negotiations with so much at stake, and so close to a reasonable settlement.
“The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) met with the teachers’ union and a mediator this week to continue negotiating a new central agreement.
“The ATA has been maintaining their ongoing public campaign saying that teachers, families and students want better classroom conditions.
“We heard their bargaining concerns and carefully considered how we could best support teachers, students and their classrooms.
“They have been offered what they asked for. They have been offered what they said was needed.
“On August 26, TEBA made an offer to the ATA that included hiring 1,000 more teachers every year for the next three years at an estimated total cost of $750 million over the term; an offer that provides the exact request the union made in June of 2025.
“Three thousand more teachers would certainly have a significant impact in alleviating classroom pressures and improve the education landscape for teachers and students.
“A 12 per cent salary increase over four years was also offered, as well as an additional increase that would further improve the salaries of 95 per cent of their members over the next four years. This would result in greater salary increases for newer teachers to help address recruitment and retention issues.
“On August 27, the ATA’s bargaining team rejected this offer, and suggested that a contract with fewer teachers would save money and that funding could be funnelled into even higher salaries.
“The union’s strategy and tactics have been exposed and called out. We cannot sit idle while the public, parents and students are manipulated into supporting a union that has shown its primary interest is in diverting supports away from the classroom to further drive up teacher compensation.”