EDMONTON - Alberta is bringing in legislation to give professors, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows the right to strike.
Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt says Bill 7 ensures Canada is in compliance with a decision by the Supreme Court.
That decision guarantees workers the right to strike while maintaining essential services.
"It's time to ensure that labour relations in Alberta's universities and colleges are consistent with the rest of Alberta's public sector and consistent with the rest of the post-secondary sector across Canada," Schmidt said after introducing the bill.
Currently, collective bargaining disputes with academic staff in Alberta are settled through binding arbitration or other mutually agreed-upon methods.
Under the proposed legislation, essential service agreements must be in place as well for the schools, covering such contingencies as academic staff who are also counselling patients.
