With 51,000 members off work, the Alberta Teachers’ Association strike that rolled out Monday is the largest labour action the province has ever seen.

On one side of the line in the sand, ATA president Jason Schilling says, are wages that have given way to inflation, students losing ground because of dwindling resources and crowded classrooms, and a provincial government willing to put private and charter school students on a pedestal.

“Today, for the first time in history, every teacher in Alberta’s public education system is staying home rather than reporting to their classroom,” Schilling told media gathered at the ATA headquarters Monday morning.

The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association, the official government negotiator in the Alberta Teachers’ Association strike that started

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