The Alberta Teachers’ Association

If you’d like to have your voice heard by the people who will negotiate your next collective agreement, your chance is now.

An online survey is now available for teachers to share their views. The results will be used to establish priorities for the next round of central table bargaining between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association.

In order to participate in the survey, members must provide the Association with a personal (non-employer) email address by updating their profile on the Association’s website.

“This is a critical step as it will enable members to participate in the survey and have access to regular status updates,” said Jason Schilling, ATA vice-president and chair of the Association’s Central Table Bargaining Committee.

“Having as many members as possible complete this important survey will best support our bargaining position in the next round of negotiations.”

How it works
Members who have provided the Association with a personal (non-employer) email address will receive an email invitation to complete the online bargaining survey.
The Association has contracted a research firm, Strategic Communications Inc. (Stratcom), to conduct this research. The email invitations will come from surveys@stratresearch.ca with the subject line “ATA Bargaining Survey 2018.” That email will contain a personalized link enabling the recipient to access the survey.

The survey will close on Feb. 20 and should take between 15 and 20 minutes to complete.
Members who do not receive an email should take the following steps:

• Check spam filters (Gmail users should check Promotions and Updates tabs).
• Visit profile.teachers.ab.ca to ensure
  that the Association has your non-work email address.
• If not, update your email prior to
  Feb. 15. An email invitation should be sent out within the following week.
• Contact the Association at 1-800-232-7208 or onlinesupport@ata.ab.ca.

Members will be able to complete the survey over multiple sessions across multiple devices (desktop computer, laptop, tablet, mobile). Simply close the browser and the survey will resume where you left off when you next click the link.
As always, follow the Bargainers’ Blog at teachers.ab.ca to stay informed about the progress of bargaining.

The process at a glance
Passed in December 2015, the Public Education Collective Bargaining Act outlines a three-phase process for negotiating collective agreements for teachers employed in each of Alberta's 61 public, separate and francophone school jurisdictions.
In the first phase, the Association and the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) negotiate which items will be discussed at the central table and which items will be discussed at the local tables. In the second phase, the Association and TEBA negotiate the terms of agreement for the items that were assigned to the central table. In the third phase, individual Association bargaining units and individual school boards negotiate the terms of agreement for the items assigned to local bargaining.

Where are we now?
In the spring of 2016, a two-year central table agreement was reached. The agreement expires at the end of August 2018, so phase one negotiations are now taking place and input is being gathered from teachers in order to inform the negotiations that will take place during the second phase.