General Strike Tomorrow?

There are rumblings of a general strike tomorrow in Alberta if the Alberta government proceeds with using the Notwithstanding clause to force striking teachers back to work. Teachers have been off the job since October 6 2025.

The AFL is telling supporters to

Be prepared for a province wide Day of Action on Tuesday, October 28th!

Photo courtesy Alberta Federation of Labour

The leaders of the Common Front (an umbrella group for all Alberta Unions) issued the following statement on Friday Oct 24 after holding an emergency meeting.

Dear Premier Smith,

On behalf of the more than 350,000 working Albertans who we represent, we urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to rule out the use of the notwithstanding clause as part of your government’s approach to the teachers’ strike. Invoking the clause would be unprecedented in the history of Canadian labour relations. It would also escalate the situation from a confrontation between your government and the teachers to a confrontation between you and the entire Canadian labour movement.

If governments start using the notwithstanding clause as a tool in their dealings with workers and unions, it will make a mockery of the constitutionally protected right to strike. Without a robust and reliable right to strike, worker bargaining power will be eroded, and with it, the wages and living standards of all Canadian workers.

If you take this unprecedented approach, we will have no choice but to mobilize an unprecedented response. There are many avenues your government could pursue to negotiate with public sector unions that do not involve invoking the notwithstanding clause. We urge you to choose them.

The message was signed by 31 unions representing over 350,000 Alberta workers.

There has not been a general strike in Alberta since the Great Labour Revolt in 1919 when Alberta workers joined a nationwide general strike.

We have no information on any local strike action at the time of publication.

Developing story, more to come