Alberta teachers look for ways to make ends meet on second day of historic strike

Some Alberta teachers are trying to figure out how to make ends meet without their regular paycheque as a provincewide strike entered its second day Tuesday.

Adrien Dominguez, a math and science teacher in High Prairie, said he’s considering taking up work in photography, marketing and university tutoring.

While he has a reserve fund, he said some friends who are teachers aren’t so lucky and are looking at waitressing, bartending or retail jobs.

A provincewide strike that started Monday with Dominguez and about 51,000 of his colleagues means many are trying to figure out how they’ll make ends meet without a regular paycheque.

“I know co-workers who lost dual incomes because they’re both teachers,” Dominguez said.

Some teacher friends are looking at going back to waitressing, bartending and working retail, he added.

“Depending how long it goes,” Dominguez said, “I may (resort) to going back to doing photography, marketing and university tutoring.”

The job action by Alberta’s teachers follows a long and nasty standoff between the Alberta Teachers’ Association and the provincial government, mainly over wages and working conditions.

The government’s latest offer, rejected in a vote by teachers, included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and hiring 3,000 more teachers to reduce overcrowded classrooms.

Premier Danielle Smith has said the government’s offer is fair and it’s willing to return to the bargaining table.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

The strike affects more than 740,000 students across 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools, which closed on Monday.

Jason Foster, a labour relations professor at Athabasca University, said the size of the strike, with 51,000 union members off the job, makes it the largest walkout in provincial history.

“There’s nothing that comes even close.”

The last Alberta teachers’ strike in 2002 involved less than half that number with 21,000 members, he said.

Union president Jason Schilling has said members won’t receive strike pay, but health benefits would be covered by the union.

“Teachers know that they’re not receiving strike pay,” he said. “They didn’t take this decision lightly and they’re willing to sacrifice some things.”

Dominguez said he has a reserve fund saved up for such emergencies, but it won’t last long.

John Varga is in a similar boat.

He and his wife, both teachers in Calgary, have torn through their garage to pull old bicycles from storage so they can sell them for extra cash.

“It’s going to be a tight month,” he said.

Varga, who teaches computer science, physics and social studies, said teaching is hard and it’s only getting harder.

One of his classes has 40 students with a variety of learning disabilities, from ADHD to limited language skills.

Sometimes top students help their peers because he can’t get to them, he said.

The closest thing he can compare it to is a children’s birthday party.

“Imagine that every day,” he said. “And then you actually try to do that and teach them something that they may not necessarily see the value in.”

Amy Bartlett is under further pressure.

The special education teacher in Grande Prairie, Alta., who’s hoping to do some hunting and sell animal skulls for display, said she can’t get another job without securing child care for her two school-aged children.

To make matters worse, her husband is being laid off next week from his job in the oil patch.

“I’m just going to open my arms to any opportunity,” she said. “I need to help pay my bills.”

Bartlett, who has been teaching for four years, said the job is taxing.

With all 21 of her students having mild to moderate learning disabilities, helping them learn is a struggle — even with three educational assistants in the classroom.

And they still fall through the cracks, she said.

But teaching is her passion, Bartlett said, and she doesn’t necessarily want to do anything else.

“I love my job,” she said. “I love that I go to work and I come home every day knowing that I made a difference in someone’s life.

“But at some points, I have walked in and said, ‘If I continue to do this, I’m going to crash.’”

She challenged those in the government to sit in her classroom for a day.

“If they actually put themselves in the shoes of a student who’s striving to become their best self, they’ll realize that something needs to change.”

&copy 2025 The Canadian Press