The standoff between the Alberta government and its 51,000 teachers — with each side accusing the other of lying — is set to turn into an all-out advertising war.
Finance Minister Nate Horner’s office confirmed Wednesday it plans to release an advertising campaign to push its side in the dispute, countering a campaign by the Alberta Teachers’ Association that has been ongoing for weeks.
“The government must now correct the false narrative the ATA has created,” Horner said in a statement.
His office said it is still determining which mediums the ads will be on, how much they will cost and what day they will be launched, but that details are coming soon.
Earlier this week, Premier Danielle Smith said her government is aware the teachers’ union is getting its position out through various means, including at movie theatres.
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“We will be getting [our] perspective out as well and we hope it will win over hearts and minds of teachers and parents,” Smith told reporters Monday.
“We want to be fair.”
Wages, classroom crowding
The province and the teachers’ association haven’t met since last week to discuss a collective agreement for educators at public, separate and francophone schools provincewide.
The teachers’ association has set a strike deadline for Oct. 6. Without a deal, the teachers will hit the picket lines, disrupting classes for more than 700,000 students across 2,500 schools.
While there are no talks at the bargaining table, the two sides have been trying to win public support through public statements and, in the case of the teachers, through ads.
The union has used billboards, radio and TV commercials, teacher testimonials on social media, and postcards and lawn signs to share its message this summer. The theme is overcrowded classrooms and how the province must step up to correct them.
The main issues up for negotiation are wages and classroom overcrowding.
Smith’s United Conservative Party government said it has offered to hire 3,000 teachers over three years, build more schools worth billions and deliver what it calls a generous 12 per cent wage increase for teachers over four years.
Smith also said coffers are tight with the province set to run a $6.5-billion deficit this year.
False claims or the facts
The teachers’ association, led by president Jason Schilling, said the offer does not adequately fix overcrowding in schools and the wage deal doesn’t make up for years of little to no salary adjustments and inflation.
Schilling said the union has proposed a counter-offer.
Both sides are also accusing the other of misrepresenting the facts.
The province said teachers are misleading the public by saying the government bargainers are not being given a free hand to bargain, while the teachers said they were told non-wage issues were off the negotiation table.
Horner announced this week the union had been taken to the labour board over its false claims.
Schilling pushed back, saying the union is not lying, and government bargainers have said non-wage issues are off the table.
Schilling called the complaint frivolous and said the government has indicated it doesn’t want to negotiate further until the matter before the labour board is resolved.
Two labour experts say the looming government ad campaign suggests the two sides are far apart and that already cold relations are set to get icy.
“What’s different here is the tone [the government] is taking,” said Steven Tufts, a labour geographer at York University in Toronto.
“Accusing the union of being dishonest, accusing teachers of lying to people, accusing them of misleading misinformation, and saying they will set the record straight in an ad campaign escalates the tone and I don’t think is making the bargaining process move forward.”
Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Alberta’s Athabasca University, said the upcoming ad campaign shows talks are taking a back seat to public relations.
“Traditionally, governments know deals get made at the table,” Foster said.
“What the ad announcement is saying is that they’re less interested in sitting down at the table and figuring out a deal and more concerned about the political optics for them, which makes me more concerned that [teachers] are going to end up in a strike in a couple of weeks.”
Tufts said it’s common for public sector unions to publicly campaign for their cause.
“That’s a sustainable or a best practice,” he said.
“Unions don’t necessarily get the same attention that a premier would get in the public sphere.”
Foster said the government needs to be careful what it puts out in its ad campaign because it has limitations.
“The communication has to be factually accurate,” Foster said.
“And [as] the government, it cannot be seen as trying to negotiate directly with the [union] members. That would be an unfair labour practice.”
