Teachers say no in BIR vote - September 17, 1980 - Vol.15 Supplement No.2

Sep 21, 2026

Teachers in Calgary overwhelmingly rejected a provincially mediated settlement in a secret ballot supervised by the Board of Industrial Relations on September 15, 1980. Of 4,881 votes, 3,497 were for rejection and 1,380 for acceptance, with four spoiled ballots. The minister ordered a revote after an earlier narrow defeat. The settlement would have reopened Clause 18.3 on classroom instruction hours and enabled another strike vote if no agreement by March 6.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

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Teachers say no in BIR vote

Revote and ballot results

Settlement terms

Information rallies and next steps

TheATANewS Published by The Alberta Teachers'Association,Edmonton,Alberta Vol.15 Supplement No.2 September 17,1980 # Teachers say no in BIR vote Board of Industrial Relations personnelcounted the ballots and announced resultsnear midnight of the day of the vote. Calgary Public teachers have said adefinite no to suggestions for settlement of-fered by a provincial mediator.In a votesupervised by the Board of Industrial Rela-tions(BIR)on Monday,September 15,72per cent of the teachers voted to turn downthe suggestion that had been rejected by anarrow margin at a meeting on September9. Minister of Labor Les Young ordered therevote on the suggested settlement after adramatically close vote on September9.At ameeting in the Jubilee Auditorium,theteachers had voted to reject the suggestionfor settlement by only seven votes.TheMinister of Labor is authorized by Section53 of The Alberta Labour Act to order a voteon any question involving a dispute betweenan employer and a unit of employees. Of a total of 4,881 votes cast in the ballot-ing supervised by the BIR,3,497 were forrejection and 1,380 for acceptance of thesuggested settlement.There were fourspoiled ballots. The suggestion for settlement included aprovision that Clause 18.3 on hours of class-room instruction could be reopened,on orbefore March 1,1981,and if no settlemeatwere reached by March 6,the teacherswould be eligible to take another strike vote. The secret ballot vote was held at fiveCalgary high schools:Sir WinstonChurchill,John Diefenbaker,Forest Lawn,Central Memorial,and Lord Beaverbrook. A total of 5,605 teachers were eligible tovote,including regular and part-time teach-ers,teachers on temporary contract,teach-ers who have resigned but who received payfor employment between January and May,substitute teachers,teachers newly hired bythe Calgary Board of Eduction,and ATAmembers employed in the board's centraloffice. Commenting on the vote in Calgary,ATAPresident Mac Kryzanowski said:"It is nowinescapably clear that the Calgary Board ofEduction must finally deal with the legit-imate requests of teachers for improvementin teaching conditions." Rallies considered District representatives of The AlbertaTeachers'Association will be canvassinglocals in their areas to discuss the possi-bility of calling special information meet-ings on the Calgary strike. about provincial matters relating to thestrike. Teachers who are interested in having in-formation meetings in their area should getin touch with their local president or theirdistrict representative. At its September 12-13 meeting,Provin-cial Executive Council approved the prep-aration of materials that can be used bydistrict representatives at local rallies Council also endorsed continued cover-age of events and background in The ATANews -in regular,special,and supple-mentary issues. These information rallies would answerquestions about the Calgary dispute and

FAQs

What was the main outcome of the BIR-supervised vote?

Calgary teachers voted decisively to reject the proposed settlement during the secret ballot.

Why was the vote held again after the September 9 meeting?

The Minister of Labor, Les Young, ordered a revote after the September 9 vote was dramatically close.

What key settlement provision affected classroom instruction hours?

The proposal included reopening Clause 18.3 on hours of classroom instruction on or before March 1, 1981.

Sep 21, 2026

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