The head of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce says a provincewide teachers strike is putting a strain on businesses.
Doug Griffiths says the chamber doesn’t take a side in the labour dispute, but it hopes the strike is resolved as quickly as possible.
The strike is entering its ninth school day, with about 740,000 students out of 2,500 schools.
The union representing 51,000 teachers walked off the job Oct. 6.
The government says it would consider forcing teachers back to work in the last week of October, when the legislature is sitting.
Griffiths says businesses have lost employees staying home to take care of their kids and are hurt by a loss in foot traffic with fewer people going to work.
“It’s impacting everyone,” he told reporters Thursday at a chamber event.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business warned of potential drops in productivity and sales with the strike.
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The federation estimated one-third of small businesses in Saskatchewan reported a negative impact on operations last year due to job action by teachers in that province.
Kayode Southwood, a senior policy analyst for the federation in Alberta, urged the government to act quickly to minimize harm to entrepreneurs, employees and their communities.
The main sticking points in the contract dispute have been wages, supports and classroom sizes.
The two sides met Tuesday for the first time since the strike began, but there has been no word on when talks might resume.
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