Alberta Charter dispute: teachers’ union waiting for next court date

Alberta’s teachers are waiting to find out when they are expected back in court to move forward with their constitutional challenge of the provincial government’s back-to-work legislation.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association tells CityNews it is expecting a date to be finalized within the next week or two.

Lawyers for the ATA will ask a judge to temporarily set aside all or part of a bill passed three weeks ago by Premier Danielle Smith’s government that ended a provincewide strike by 51,000 teachers.

They want the bill put on hold pending a full airing in court of the issues involved.

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The bill also imposed on the teachers a collective bargaining agreement rank-and-file teachers had earlier rejected and invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield it from legal challenge.

The teachers, however, argue the clause has not been properly used.

The clause overrides teachers’ Charter rights, but Smith has said the government had no choice but to end the strike given that it was affecting students’ social, educational and emotional well-being.

–With files from The Canadian Press