STF says further teacher job action planned for Monday

As teachers across the province warm up after walking off the job yesterday, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation announced further job action is planned for next week unless the province changes course.

While the union did not specify what will happen on Jan. 22, it said it will share the specifics 48 hours prior.

“The Minister of Education says that issues like class size and complexity are best dealt with locally. We agree, but local boards cannot address these issues when they are dealing with a decade of budget cuts and drastic underfunding from the provincial government,” said STF President Samantha Becotte in a news release Wednesday morning.

“We cannot solve these issues with more committees or one-off pilot projects in a small fraction of our schools. We need irrefutable commitments and long-term funding, and our best option to hold government accountable is through our collective agreement.”

Becotte added that this demand is not a “novel or new idea,” citing how the Canadian Teachers’ Federation has many examples of provinces negotiating class size and complexity.

Yesterday, Saskatchewan Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill remained steadfast in his direction to address these two issues with school boards and school divisions instead.

“We announced a pilot project last week that’s working with eight specific school divisions on specialized support classrooms… if that pilot is successful… if we start to see progress and improvements in outcomes… we would absolutely look at expanding that pilot out to more divisions and more schools,” he said.

While negotiations have reached an impasse, Cockrill is adamant they will reach a deal at the bargaining table. But no new talks between the STF and the province are scheduled.

“How long can government ignore their voters? We are ready to work together, negotiate and find solutions whenever the government is willing to actually bargain – day or night. Teachers are taking action for students, and we need our government to do the same,” Becotte said.

The last time teachers went on strike was in the spring of 2011.

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