Advocate

Working with incredibly passionate and visionary local and provincial staff,  Local 55, Local 38 and ATA Provincial were able to create a magical evening of conversation focused on Democracy, Public Education and the Common Good.

Ms. Atwood's spicy analysis of the recent US elections and her warnings on how to safeguard our own country's democarcy against imminent threats resonated with all 2000 in-person and almost 1000 livestream attendees.

Special thanks to Dr. Phil McRae for the idea to host this, President Stephani Clements and all the staff at our two locals and ATA Provincial.  This was a night that no participant will soon forget.

#Red4Ed Movement within Local 55 and throughout the Province

At the Local, over the past four years, we have grown this movement into a district wide event every Friday.  Even the Chief Superintendent recommended wearing red on Fridays as a way to show our support for publicly funded Catholic Education.

The work at the local has been slow but persistent when it comes to RedForEdAB, but we were honoured in August 2022 with a "Star of the ATA", for our work on building this movement.  Our submission included highlighting the growth of this movement so that today we see teachers sporting their #RedForEdAB T-shirts on Fridays to our newborns wearing their #RedForEdAB baby onesies that they receive as part of our hospitality program.

The Stars of the ATA is an ATA Provincial wide recognition program showcasing superior initiatives at different Locals.  It was a proud moment last August to realize our hardwork had paid off when Calgary Catholic ATA Local 55 was spotlighted at the ceremony.

Please read on if you would like to learn more about the inception of the #RedForEd movement that originally began in 2018 in the United States and has been adopted in Canada.

The “Red for Ed” campaign started as a movement to advocate for the proper funding of public education, smaller class sizes and equitable salary increases for teachers. Since its inception in 2018 it has continued to gain momentum due in part to a number of contentious labour actions by U.S. education workers and their National Education Association (NEA). The labour strikes were based on ensuring equitable pay for teachers and spotlighting the deteriorating working conditions in many US schools.  Teachers began to wear red shirts to demonstrate their solidarity. Some attribute the colour choice of red to represent school budgets being “in the red.”

The wearing of red soon became a symbol of advocacy for all teachers and education workers facing these challenges of poorly funded schools and unsafe or deteriorating working conditions.  Supporters were urged to wear red every Wednesday.

The campaign jumped the border into Canada when Ontario’s Doug Ford government began pushing through changes that negatively impacted publicly funded classrooms. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) embraced the #Red4Ed movement and asked supporters to wear red on Fridays. 

B.C. teachers soon followed their colleagues after their provincial government balanced the books at the cost of public education, bringing in significant underfunding and a budget shortfall of $84.17 million and gave birth to the "Red for BC Ed" movement.

In Alberta, in the fall of 2020, the Kenney government released a budget that included a $275 million shortfall in public education funding while private schools save a very limited reduction, or in some cases, an increase in funding.  Additionally, the government moved their teachers' pensions into AIMCO without the approval of teachers or consultation of the ATA or ATRF, did not support prioritizing teachers for vaccinations and presented a Draft curriculum that has been widely panned and had little to no teacher input or support.  Even after modifications, the appropriateness and scaffolding of the concepts in the math curriculum is laughably weak and the social studies curriculum still needs significant rewrites to represent all Albertans. For these many reasons, Alberta teachers started joining the crusade with the #Red4EdAB and #RedForEdAB campaigns by showing solidarity by wearing red on Fridays.

This grassroots advocacy campaign aims to send a message that Albertans need a robustly funded public education system, smaller class sizes and equitable salary increases for teachers.

Join your colleagues by wearing red on Fridays and ensure you use the hastag #Red4EdAB or #RedForEdAB.

As an advocate for education, there is not a rally I don't enjoy attending and having my voice heard alongside my colleagues  Over the years myself and the Local have organized and/or attended the #ProtectABKids Rally, the Ditch the Curriculum Rally, the Rally for Education in Calgary, the Provincial Stand for Education Rally in Edmonton and the Rally for Respect to support our CUPE brothers and sisters.  

Looking forward to the time when we don't have to come together to make the government do what they should be doing!

As part of the provincial initiative to both engage with and understand better the public's hopes and dreams for public education, two round table events were organized by Local 55 and Local 38.  We invited hundreds of local elected officials, advocates for public education, parents, teachers and concerned citizens to voice their vision for the future of public education.  An enlightened evening for all involved.

Over the past 4 years I have continuously, as part of my position as Local President, and as a concerned citizen, met with countless MLAs to advocate for sound curriculum, lower class sizes, supports for our classes and to re-establish fully funded public education.  We want our province to be the gold standard for what public education should be and can be, but sadly the current government chooses to fund education the least across the country.  Only through regular discussioin and advocacy, can we chip away at these leaders and help to educate them so they can support the students of Alberta.  It is a slow process, but regular monthly calls, letters and texts help to inform them of the true situation in the classrooms of Alberta.