No talks scheduled as time ticks down to Monday deadline in Alberta teachers strike

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 25, 2025.

With time running out before Alberta’s striking teachers get legislated back to work, the province and the union say they’re ready to negotiate but want the other side to make the first move.

Premier Danielle Smith said with the strike deep into its third week, the hardship facing students and families is intolerable, forcing her government to step in.

She said if the two sides can’t reach a deal at the bargaining table in the next few days, her United Conservative government will introduce back-to-work legislation Monday.

Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling told reporters Friday that no formal negotiation meetings are set for the weekend, but he also doesn’t see the point in further talks if the province isn’t willing to discuss the union’s key priorities.

“They don’t want to talk about the things that have put us in this situation to begin with,” said Schilling, who represents the 51,000 teachers who have been on strike since Oct. 6.

“They don’t want to talk about the chronic underfunding that we see within the system, the fact that students are falling through the cracks.”

He said the government also doesn’t want to discuss caps on classroom sizes – something he said is non-negotiable.

Schilling said the union will need to see what that legislation says before deciding how to respond.

“Teachers remain ready to work with the government to fix what’s broken,” he said. “But this government has chosen confrontation over cooperation.”

He wouldn’t say whether defying the order was something the union might do but said the association will stand up for its members.

“We have (stood up) every day, and we will every day moving forward, and so we will look and see what (the legislation says) and then we’ll move forward from there.”

The continued standoff comes a day after Premier Danielle Smith told reporters that, absent a deal, her government will order teachers back to work through legislation on Monday.

Michael Jerred, president of ATA Local No. 1 in Medicine Hat hopes negotiations can be reached before Monday and fears tensions between educators and the province may linger for years to come.

“So now we’re going to have to look at this on a go-forward basis, this will come up every four years in cycles,” said Jerred. But if this is the process that will be followed, or we can expect it to go this way every time , that will definitely be the focus of the association, that this is not an acceptable way to do things.”

Finance Minister Nate Horner’s office said Friday the province can’t afford what is being demanded and that it wants the union to propose a lower offer.

“We remain committed to a fair and favourable deal for our teachers, but not at the expense of other important essential services,” it says in an email.

Horner’s office said the decision wasn’t taken lightly, but it’s, “the only responsible path forward to end ongoing disruptions, close achievement gaps, and restore confidence in our education system.”

The weeks-long strike has affected roughly 750,000 students and closed 2,500 schools.

With files from The Canadian Press

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