On February 26, the Alberta
Teachers' Association (ATA) announced its rejection of the
government's
proposal for a province-wide agreement between the Government of
Alberta, the ATA and the Alberta School Boards Association. The
proposal was rejected in a unanimous vote by the ATA's Provincial
Executive Council. In the absence of a province-wide agreement,
local
bargaining between individual ATA locals and school boards
continues.
In a press conference, ATA
President
Carol Henderson explained: "The minister's offer is unacceptable.
There
are no provisions for placing reasonable limits on the amount of
time
that teachers can be assigned to work by their employer boards,
and
what provisions there are for limiting the amount of time
teachers are
in the classroom are full of loopholes. In financial terms, it is
actually worse for teachers than what he proposed in December.
Finally,
there still remains the need to guarantee stability for teachers
just
as it guarantees stability for school boards and the
province."
Henderson noted, "Teachers have to
prepare for larger, more complex classes and need time to improve
their
teaching and student learning. Without dealing effectively with
issues
of assignable and instructional time, the minister's offer would
simply
not receive approval from teachers working in each and every
school
board, a necessary condition for it to be implemented."[1]
In response, Education Minister
Jeff
Johnson has reiterated his threat to impose a contract on
teachers
through legislation. In an interview with the Calgary
Herald
last week, he stated that a strike is on the horizon and that the
government is discussing what it will do to "protect the
classroom."
Johnson said, "The deadline passed, negotiations have stopped,
they've
walked away from the table and they passed up the raises that we
offered their teachers."
How a three year wage
freeze followed by 2 per cent can be described as "raises" in the
plural is anyone's guess. Protection from the Alberta
government's
austerity agenda is more precisely what classrooms and students
need.
For
over
two
years,
the
ATA
has been trying to reach an agreement to
address the pressing issues of workload and classroom conditions.
The
government has responded with stone-walling, intransigence and
deprives
teachers of the right to say no! to unacceptable working
conditions.
The government promised "stable and predictable" funding for
education,
and then tabled a budget in February, 2012 where the basic per
capita
instructional grant to school boards would have increased at less
than
the rate of inflation. Now even this "stable and predictable"
funding,
which was by no means adequate, is being called into question,
with the
government suggesting it might have to break its commitment.
The ATA made a final offer to the
Alberta government in December 2012, which was met with
disinformation
from the Minister. He claimed the ATA was demanding a veto over
government decisions regarding education and that a limit on
assigned
time would cripple rural school boards. It would be a great
benefit to
public education if teachers could veto decisions which were not
in the
best interests of students and society. Who better to decide than
teachers how to develop public education. But teachers did not
ask for
a veto, only a guarantee that the government could not shake
hands on
an agreement and then legislate something else entirely. As for
the
claim that rural school boards would be crippled, the ATA has
pointed
out that there are many rural school boards where teachers had a
limit
on assigned time until the sunset clause kicked in on June 30,
2012.
For the Minister to counter the
ATA with
yet another final offer two months later is an outrageous move.
Minister Johnson has already interfered in local bargaining by
asking
school boards to give their views on imposing a contract on
teachers
through legislation. He directed the Teachers' Registrar, which
gives
out teaching certificates, to hand over its list of personal
emails for
teachers in Alberta so that he could by-pass communication with
the ATA
and directly communicate with teachers, a matter which is being
investigated by the Alberta Privacy Commissioner.
Johnson's "offer" was coupled with
a
letter to the ATA threatening that if his offer was not accepted,
the
budget for education would be even lower and mean salary
rollbacks and
further cuts to the number of teachers employed in Alberta.
Considering
that the Minister's offer was made less than two weeks before the
budget is to be released on March 7, it is clear that the
decisions
have already been made and the budget documents shipped to the
printers. What kind of bargaining is this? Deputy Premier Thomas
Lukaszuk who has been appointed tsar of all public sector
negotiations
is not even in the country, but has gone on vacation. As Carol
Henderson stated, "Teachers do not respond well to ultimatums."
To deprive the education system of the
funding it needs and attack teachers' working conditions and
students'
learning conditions, the Redford government is pushing the fraud
that
no alternative exists to its anti-social austerity agenda. The
hoax of
austerity has become a hysterical scheme to steal from the public
treasury for pay-the-rich schemes, reduce investments in social
programs and public services, lower workers' standard of living,
and
deprive teachers of their right to say No! to an attack on public
education. All working people of Alberta must stand firmly with
the
teachers against this bullying by a government that refuses to
recognise its social responsibilities.
Note
1.
"Teachers
say no to minister, yes to local collective bargaining," Alberta
Teachers Association website, February 26, 2013.
Alberta
Government
Attacks
Teachers'
Organization
On February 26, the Alberta
government
issued a
press release, headlined "Minister disappointed ATA union rejects
province's fair contract offer." Rather than informing Albertans
as to
the details of the proposal, the release claims that the
government
made a "fair and reasonable offer" and accuses the Alberta
Teachers'
Association (ATA) of failing to act on their members concerns
about
workload. The government release states: "Johnson said the ATA's
rejection of a commitment to study workload issues, the
cornerstone of
the offer, was particularly upsetting. Alberta Education had
proposed
an internal review to look at how teacher workloads could be
adjusted
without impacting the educational experience of Alberta's 600,000
students."
This is absurd! How can teacher workloads be adjusted
without
impacting
the educational experience of students? Teachers' working
conditions are
students' learning conditions; the aim of improving teachers'
workload
is precisely to improve the quality of public
education.
The release continues by quoting
Minister Jeff Johnson:
"'Over
the past
several months, it has become clear that workload is the biggest
issue
for our teachers,' the Minister said. 'We have taken those
concerns
seriously. However, we need to understand more about what
contributes
to those concerns and develop a co-ordinated plan to address
them. I'm
saddened the ATA leadership didn't share their members'
concerns'."
Far from it, the government has dismissed offers by the
ATA that
would
have addressed the problem of teacher workload. The ATA fought
for the
Alberta Commission on Learning, which identified class size as a
problem, and which has commissioned countless studies on the
state of
education and what is needed to improve the quality of education
in
Alberta.[1]
Teachers are standing firm and
are not
going to give in to the Alberta government's blackmail. They are
expressing their conviction that conditions in classrooms must
improve.
Teacher workload cannot continue to increase indefinitely. On the
contrary, teachers are determined that classroom conditions must
improve and their concerns regarding workload must be addressed
so that
they are able to better identify and plan to meet the learning
needs of
their students.
Note
1.
An example of the work done by the ATA to advance a vision
for a
stronger public education system is "A Great School for All:
Transforming Education in Alberta," published August 2012, which is
available here.
Letter to
the Editor
Commissioner Investigates Department of Education
The Alberta Privacy Commissioner is
presently
investigating the Department of Education after Minister Jeff
Johnson
directed the Alberta Teachers' Registrar to hand over the
personal
emails of 30,000 teachers so that Johnson could email them
personally.
The teachers' registrar is responsible for issuing teaching
certificates to teachers and collects email addresses as part of
the
application process.
In the Minister's email to
teachers, he
said the ministry needed "a more open and transparent way to
communicate."
This
is a direct attack on the Alberta Teachers' Association, which he
suggests does not represent the concerns and needs of its
membership.
Similarly, he has alleged that the ATA has failed to listen to
the
concerns of the membership around workload, while he, on the
other
hand, is going to make workload "a priority."
In place of communication with a
democratically elected body which represents the interests of
teachers,
the Education Minister wants communication on a personalized
basis with
individual teachers. Johnson knows that individual teachers have
no
means of effectively advocating on their own without their
organization. He wants a method where he gets to decide what
teachers
are asking for, sum up what they have to say, and present it in a
self-serving manner, if he presents it at all. It is interesting
to
note that while the Minister tells us he met with teachers in a
staff
room in Lac La Biche, he does not report on what they have to
say.
What he is proposing is that every
teacher present themselves as an individual, and the government
will
get to decide. This is a step backward into medievalism, where
the only
role for individuals is that they can go on bended knee and
petition
the King. We will not go backwards.
While the Redford government is
pursuing
a hidden agenda to privatize public education and reform it along
the
American model, the collective organization and resistance of
teachers
stands in the way to its implementation. This is why this
government is
not interested in dealing with the ATA because it is defending
public
education and the rights of teachers and students. Teachers have
no
intention of giving up their right to organize and defend their
interests and instead put their faith in a condescending saviour
from
the government. The only way teachers can exercise their right to
decide is by organizing their collective.
A teacher in Calgary
Redford
Regime
Preparing
New
Attacks
on the
Right to Post-Secondary Education
- Dougal MacDonald -
With the Redford regime's March 7
budget looming,
post-secondary institutions in Alberta are readying for a new
attack on
the right to education, mainly in the form of underfunding of
education
at all levels. Redford and her minions claim that due to a fall
in
resource revenues, Albertans must prepare to accept a program of
fiscal
austerity, which as everyone knows, means cuts to social programs
such
as education and health care.
Redford is the current champion of the energy and other
monopolies that
want to continue to extract as much added-value from the workers
as
possible. For this champion of the monopolies, claiming more from
the
monopolies at the point of production or distribution and
investing it
in education is not up for discussion, even though the people
find it a
logical solution to underfunding. For the Redford government, no
matter
what happens, the monopolies must be paid! Instead of looking for
social product at its source to increase investments in social
programs, Redford and other political representatives of the
monopolies
and mass media push regressive taxation to steal the claims of
workers
and others using new or increased individual
taxes.
In June 2011, Redford stated post-secondary institutions
would be
ensured of "stable and predictable funding," which later
translated
into a 2012 budget declaration of a 2-2-2 per cent increase in
funding
over the next three years. The institutions immediately pointed
out
that such minuscule increases would not even maintain current
programs,
let alone allow education to expand to meet the growing needs of
the
youth, an expanding population and the general interests of
modern
society. Now even the promised 2 per cent is in jeopardy. Of
course,
everyone is used to the unfulfilled promises of bourgeois
politicians
so this comes as no surprise. The University of Alberta says it
may not
be able to offer its full range of programs due to predicted
underfunding and has already made staff and program cuts, for
example
in 2012 to the beleaguered Faculty of Arts. University students
across
the province are expressing their concern that programs may be
cut and
are increasingly worried about the future of their education.
Some
post-secondary institutions are already taking drastic measures
in
preparation for the budget; Grant MacEwan of the University in
Edmonton
has declared a hiring freeze.
Another issue being thrown into the mix is online
education. It
is a
known fact that all members of the University of Alberta Board of
Governors have been given for bedtime reading the 2011 book The
Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from
the
Inside Out by Christensen and Eyring. The book essentially
sees
online education as the solution to everything from rising
tuition fees
to rapidly expanding student debt to compromised access. The
authors
admit that this "solution" means education will require less
funding so
the link is clear to the Redford regime's neo-liberal conception
of
denying adequate educational funding.
Much has been made recently about massive
open online courses
(MOOCs) that
are being offered by newly minted private providers such as
Coursera
and Udacity through several U.S. universities such as Harvard,
MIT, and
Stanford. The University of Alberta recently signed a memorandum
of
understanding with Udacity. MOOC proposals glorify the number of
students "reached" while ignoring such obvious problems as
dubious
course content, lack of interactivity, high dropout rate, and how
student learning in such courses could be objectively evaluated.
In
other words, the way to so-called cost reduction is reduction in
the
quality of education. MOOCs are also seen primarily as providing
"lower
tier" online education for the "masses" while those with the
financial
means will still be able to pay the fees required to actually
come to a
campus.
Some clues to the
Redford
regime's plans for further restructuring post-secondary education
in
the interests of the private monopolies have emerged from the
mouth of
newly appointed Minister of Advanced Education and Deputy
Premier,
Thomas Lukaszuk. Lukaszuk stated on February 6 that Alberta's
post-secondary educational institutions must become "integral
parts and
perhaps enablers of our economy." He further stated that they
must more
closely align themselves with the province's so-called economic
diversification program, which essentially consists of selling
out raw
resources to more than one buyer. In other words, the
post-secondary
institutions must even more directly serve the interests of the
monopolies by continuing to provide such things as free corporate
training, publicly funded research facilities for private gain,
and
pro-monopoly ideologues, instead of focusing on educating
students in
their own and the public's interest and to be capable of
analysing the
world and economy as they present themselves and not be duped by
dogma.
On February 14,
Lukaszuk floated the idea
that there is a need "for greater cooperation among institutions"
and
"less duplication in specialized academic programs," which is an
essential aspect of the Redford regime's as yet rather nebulous
"Campus
Alberta" strategy. Lukaszuk also stated that there is no plan to
create
an education "superboard" similar to the 15-member healthcare
superboard (2008), which is headed by the president of a trucking
monopoly. Lukaszuk's main aim in bringing this up was to float
the idea
to see how it might be received by the
public.
What
Redford and Lukaszuk are essentially calling for is a game of
post-secondary "Survivor" based on the notion that everyone
should fend
for themselves and too bad for the "losers." Former Premier Ralph
Klein, notorious for his slashing and burning of social programs
and
attacks on workers in the 1990s, originally initiated this law of
the
jungle approach. For example, Mount Royal College (now a
university)
and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology were forced by
Klein
to battle it out over which institution would offer the one
journalism
degree program in Calgary. It was also foreshadowed in the
February 28
claim by University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekara that
the U
of A should receive more funding than some other "non-research"
Alberta
universities. This kind of institutional split will not be
helpful in
terms of defending the right to post-secondary education. Rather,
the
administration, academic staff, support staff, and students of
all
institutions should unite to defend the right to public education
and
to demand that the Redford regime must increase funding to
education at
all levels. It is the people of Alberta who should decide the
present
and future of post-secondary education, not the monopolies and
their
salesmen in the Redford government.
Health Care Is a Right
Health
Care
Workers
Rally
and Speak Out for Health Care
Health care workers and
professionals
and their unions are putting the government on notice that they
will
not stand by while the government launches yet another assault on
the
right to health care and seniors' care. They are speaking up to
demand
that the Alberta government uphold its social responsibility to
provide
free, public, high quality health care when people need it.
The Alberta government has
signalled
that when it releases the budget on March 7, it will abandon its
commitment to stable funding for health care. According to the
funding
formula previously established, health care funding was set for a
4.5
per cent increase. This funding will not be in the budget, even
though
it is barely enough to keep pace with population growth and
inflation,
much less address long waiting lists, acute care bed shortages,
lack of
public seniors' care and other serious problems which need
solutions.
Funding for patients and the staff who care for them is also
being cut
as the government hands over more and more services to private
interests who rob the public treasury for private gain.
The Alberta Federation of Labour
and
public sector unions are holding a joint press conference on
March 4 to
demand that public services be protected.
On February 27, health care
workers held
two rallies outside the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) to protest
cutbacks in services to seniors. Over the noon hour workers
rallied to
oppose the closure of a transition bed unit in the RAH. The unit
housed
patients, mostly seniors, waiting to be placed in continuing care
facilities in the community.
"It makes no sense to close this
unit,"
said Bill Dechant, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alberta
Union
of Provincial Employees, which represents Licensed Practical
Nurses,
health care aides and support staff at the hospital. "It made the
entire system more efficient and gave the patients in there more
dignity while they awaited placements."
A second rally held from 4-5 pm
protested cutbacks in the seniors care system. Recently Capital
Care, a
subsidiary of Alberta Health Services (AHS), drastically reduced
its
full-time nursing staff, while employees of the Good Samaritan
Society,
another AHS-funded organization, were given layoff notices this
week.
The cuts come in the wake of Alberta Health Services'
new "patient care based funding" system for long-term care. Up to
50
facilities across the province will see their funding reduced
over the
next three years.
In an OpEd published February 28
in the Edmonton
Journal, Health Sciences Association of Alberta President
Elisabeth
Ballerman writes, "We cannot lay off our
patients or downsize the elderly. [...] Albertans know our
health-care
system is already stretched close to breaking point. Reports pour
in
from all over the province of people not getting the help they
need
when they need it."
Ballerman points out, "You cannot
make
those kind of savings by looking for efficiencies in
administration;
you have to cut front-line services.... Last year, the Emergency
Medical Services (EMS) members of the Health Sciences Association
of
Alberta revealed how badly the health-care system is failing
Albertans.
Crews are stuck in emergency departments for hours as they wait
to hand
over patients to hospital staff too busy to take them. Meanwhile,
Albertans who need emergency help wait inexcusable times for an
ambulance and then again wait hours in overcrowded hospital
emergency
departments because there aren't enough acute-care
beds.
"Let's be clear. Anything less
than the
4.5-per-cent increase is a cut. That amount was meant to help the
health-care system stabilize after the last round of spending
cuts and
provide a sustainable and predictable funding model."
Addressing the claim that the
government
has no choice, she states, "The government has sold off
non-renewable
resources owned by the people at fire-sale prices, allowing
corporations to enjoy soaring profits while their tax rates were
lowered. It has failed to meet its own royalty targets at a cost
of
tens of billions of dollars.
"The corporate giveaways have been
combined with equally foolhardy tax cuts for wealthy individuals.
This
has led to the roller-coaster revenue ride that has devastated
health
care. Funding is slashed, then increased in an attempt to catch
up,
then slashed again. The financial mismanagement has led to
constant
upheaval and costly reorganizations.
"It's obvious that a predictable
and
sustainable funding model will save money in the long run.
However, one
more blip in oil prices is enough to get our government rushing
back to
the bad practices of the past. It will cut spending again. It
will
cause chaos again and add to health-care costs in the long
term.
"What those who propose these cuts
fail
to grasp is that we cannot 'lay off' our patients or 'downsize' the
elderly.
Health care
cannot be run like a business that must cut back when sales are
down.
Albertans who need health care deserve to get it when they need
it."
Women Fight for Dignity and
Rights
Protecting
Our
Women
from
Violence:
Reclaiming Our Safety
More than 100 people
rallied in
Edmonton on Friday, March 1 in response to the call to take part in the
action
"Protecting
our women from violence: Reclaiming our safety." The rally call
explained that it was being organized in response to ongoing
victimization of women, particularly First Nations, both in
mainstream
society and in our justice system. The call to action was sparked
by
the recent incident in which a young First Nation's woman whose
mother
called the police to report an assault was brought into custody
on old
warrants and jailed for several days without a rape kit,
counselling,
proper hygiene or medical care, even after she reported she had
been
sexually assaulted. She was kept in jail for five days before all
charges were dropped and she was finally released. Much of this
time
was spent in a "holding tank" in degrading and inhuman conditions
where
women are not even provided bedding or toilet facilities.
Young aboriginal women came
forward one
after another to speak out. They honoured the courage of the
young
woman and her mother for speaking out and not permitting the
police to
act with impunity. They stressed that this is not an isolated
case.
There is much evidence of abuse that goes unreported, and many
women
who are victims of abuse and assault find themselves
re-victimized by
the police and "justice" system.
Elders who have been active in
their
communities their entire lives fighting for the dignity of
aboriginal
women also spoke and expressed their pride in the youth who are
speaking out and taking action.
The Edmonton police have refused
to take
responsibility for their criminal disregard for the well-being of
this
young woman. The fact that they continue to declare that they did
nothing wrong speaks volumes. It shows that this is indeed not an
isolated incident but reveals the depth of systemic abuse and
racism
facing aboriginal people, especially the women and
youth.
A key message from the speakers
was that
aboriginal women and youth are organizing themselves and
providing
themselves with the means to defend their rights and reclaim
their
safety.
At the close of the rally, the
organizers announced the march and forum taking place on
Saturday,
March 9 to celebrate International Women's Day.
Coming Events
Celebrate International Women's Day
Edmonton International Women's Day
March Saturday, March 9
-- 1:30 pm
Meet at Corbett
Hall,
82 Avenue and 112 Street
March to Luther Centre, 10014 81 Avenue
Speakers and light meal to follow.
On Saturday March 9, Edmonton
women
and supporters will celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) by
gathering at Corbett Hall field (corner of 112 Street and
82nd/Whyte
Avenue) for a march beginning at 1:30 pm, joining millions who
mobilize
around the world for IWD in recognition of women's struggles in
defense
of the rights of all.
The event is being organized by
the
Edmonton International Women's Day Committee, a grassroots group
formed
to organize IWD events in Edmonton.
This year's march will take place
two
days after the release of the Government of Alberta's anti-social
austerity budget, and will express the determination by those
involved
to defend the right to health care, childcare, public education
and
supports for the most vulnerable. "When social supports are
unavailable
or under attack, women are disproportionately affected," says
Merryn
Edwards, a member of the organizing committee, "since we are the
ones
who carry the burden of caring for our families and
communities."
The march will also highlight
efforts by
First Nations and the Idle No More movement to affirm hereditary,
treaty and constitutional rights and build on the courageous
leadership
of Indigenous women and others fighting to protect a just and
sustainable future for all on Turtle Island and
beyond.
A light meal and program including
speakers from labour and community organizations will follow the
march
at the Luther Centre (10014 - 81 Avenue). Speakers include Tanya
Kappo of
the Idle No More movement.
More information and updates are
available at www.facebook.com/IWDEdmonton
or by emailing edmontoniwd@gmail.com.
Calgary International Women's Day Potluck
Celebration Thursday, March 7 -- 5:30
pm
Kerby
Centre, 1133
7th Ave SW
Guest Speaker: Gael McLeod,
Calgary City
Alderman Ward 5. Entertainment by Elbow River &
The
Raging Grannies. RSVP at 403-264-1155 or
sarah@womenscentrecalgary.org.
For information visit womenscentrecalgary.org.
The event is a potluck -- please
bring a
dish if you are able.
Parade and Celebration Friday, March 8 -- 11:30
am
Meet at the Women's
Centre, 646 - 1 Ave N.E., shortly before 11:00 am.
Walk to Stephen Avenue and 3rd Street SW
11:30 am: Parade on Stephen Avenue
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm: Celebration at Olympic Plaza, 228 8
Avenue SW
To mark International Women's Day,
join
us for the city-wide parade down Stephen Avenue at 11:30 am,
ending
with a celebration including speakers, food and fun at Olympic
Plaza
from 12:00 until 1:00 pm. Several mini-fairs will be set up
downtown to
spread the word about International Women's Day.
If you are interested in attending
with
us, please meet us at the Women's Centre, 646 - 1 Ave N.E.,
shortly
before 11:00 am to join us in walking together to the event. Or feel
free
to meet us there!
Read The Marxist-Leninist Daily
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email:
editor@cpcml.ca
Henderson noted, "Teachers have to
prepare for larger, more complex classes and need time to improve
their
teaching and student learning. Without dealing effectively with
issues
of assignable and instructional time, the minister's offer would
simply
not receive approval from teachers working in each and every
school
board, a necessary condition for it to be implemented."[
The release continues by quoting
Minister Jeff Johnson:
"'Over
the past
several months, it has become clear that workload is the biggest
issue
for our teachers,' the Minister said. 'We have taken those
concerns
seriously. However, we need to understand more about what
contributes
to those concerns and develop a co-ordinated plan to address
them. I'm
saddened the ATA leadership didn't share their members'
concerns'."
In place of communication with a
democratically elected body which represents the interests of
teachers,
the Education Minister wants communication on a personalized
basis with
individual teachers. Johnson knows that individual teachers have
no
means of effectively advocating on their own without their
organization. He wants a method where he gets to decide what
teachers
are asking for, sum up what they have to say, and present it in a
self-serving manner, if he presents it at all. It is interesting
to
note that while the Minister tells us he met with teachers in a
staff
room in Lac La Biche, he does not report on what they have to
say. 
On February 27, health care
workers held
two rallies outside the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) to protest
cutbacks in services to seniors. Over the noon hour workers
rallied to
oppose the closure of a transition bed unit in the RAH. The unit
housed
patients, mostly seniors, waiting to be placed in continuing care
facilities in the community. 
Young aboriginal women came
forward one
after another to speak out. They honoured the courage of the
young
woman and her mother for speaking out and not permitting the
police to
act with impunity. They stressed that this is not an isolated
case.
There is much evidence of abuse that goes unreported, and many
women
who are victims of abuse and assault find themselves
re-victimized by
the police and "justice" system. 
