P.A. teachers back to the picket line as MLAs say a fair deal is on the table

By Derek Craddock

Saskatchewan teachers are once again on the picket lines as a series of rotating strikes began on Thursday.

Thousands of students at several school divisions in the province are affected by the strike, which includes all schools in the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division and Prince Albert Catholic Schools.

On Monday, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) announced the rotating strikes, saying the government left them no choice by refusing to bargain on issues of class size and complexity.

“Teachers want to be in their classrooms supporting students, but government is making that untenable,” STF President Samantha Becotte said.

“Saskatchewan people have sent over 30,000 emails to government in less than three weeks – and these are just the emails we know of.”

In response to the strike, Prince Albert Carlton MLA Joe Hargrave, a member of the governing Saskatchewan Party, said it’s unfortunate teachers are striking, saying it only hurts students.

READ MORE:

• Sask. teachers hit the picket line Tuesday in one-day strike
• STF says Sask. teachers to start rotating strike action Thursday
• Becotte wants to get back to bargaining as teachers prepare to picket

“That’s not what anybody’s looking for and I think that it would be good if both sides just got to the table, sat down, and got things worked out. That would be the best for parents and kids and everyone else,” Hargrave said.

When asked about the teachers’ push to bargain on issues of class size and complexity, Hargrave reiterated what Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill and Finance Minister Donna Harpauer have said before, that those issues should be left to school boards.

“I don’t think that needs to be in a bargaining agreement, but the fact that it’s being looked at in the school system and the school boards can control that, I think that’s the positive way to go and that’s the right way to go,” Hargrave said.

“Ultimately, job action is the choice of union leadership,” Cockrill said before the STF made the strike announcement. “Unfortunately, we have union leadership at the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation that just does not want to come back to the bargaining table.”

Cockrill noted the province believes it has “a fair deal” on the table for teachers.

In an emailed statement to paNOW, Prince Albert Northcote MLA Alana Ross agreed with her Sask. Party counterparts, saying the province has presented what it believes is a fair deal to teachers. Ross noted that the province has already invested around $53 million to school boards to help address rising enrolment, class sizes, complexity, a teacher-led innovation and support fund and specialized support classroom pilot projects.

“A fair deal for teachers must also be a fair deal for taxpayers,” said Ross.

“Saskatchewan taxpayers already contribute the most per capita to education in the country, and right now the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is asking for a salary increase of two per cent plus the Consumer Price Index each and every year, for four years. That amounts to a 23.4-per-cent increase.”

Ross said the Government Trustee Bargaining Committee is still at the table ready to discuss salary, but can’t negotiate without the STF at the table.

Other school divisions affected by Thursday’s walkout are Living Sky and Light of Christ School Division and Horizon School Division.