Striking teachers 'care too much' to allow chronic underfunding to continue, ATA says
Source: CBC
Classroom conditions, pay are sticking points for teachers who rejected two offers
Janet French · CBC News · Posted: Oct 06, 2025 7:00 AM CDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
School doors across Alberta were shuttered Monday after 51,000 teachers walked off the job after the association representing them was unable to reach an agreement with employers that teachers would accept.
It was not a step teachers wanted to take but one they see as necessary, Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling said at a Monday morning news conference.
"Our classrooms, hallways and school fields are empty, and not because we've given up on public education but because we care too much about it to stand by and watch it slowly erode and crumble from chronic underfunding," Schilling said.
This is the first provincewide teachers' strike in Alberta's history.
The Alberta teachers' strike means more than 730,000 students are missing classes. These signs were taken at Holyrood elementary school in Edmonton on Monday. (Janet French/CBC)
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/striking-teachers-care-too-much-to-allow-chronic-underfunding-to-continue-ata-says-1.7651087