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No meetings are scheduled between the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the provincial government in the near future to discuss a new contract.
In late October, a majority of teachers voted in favour of imposing sanctions against the government in hopes of spurring contract talks.
STF president Samantha Becotte was on the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Wednesday. When asked why the STF has not made any moves to put the pressure on the provincial government after the sanctions vote was taken, Becotte said the main objective was to get a fair deal for teachers.
“Getting to an agreement is the goal, not necessarily the actions that will get us there,” she said.
Becotte said the STF is trying to apply pressure through days of action and rallies across the province.
“We continue to put pressure on, but the goal is not any sort of sanction action,” Becotte said. “We want this government to come to the table ready to negotiate, but unfortunately, they refuse to negotiate on the majority of the proposals that we’ve put forward.”
If sanctions are imposed, they could range from pausing extracurricular activities to rotating strikes to a full withdrawal of services.
The STF has prepared for conciliation, and Becotte hopes that process can bring the teachers’ union and the provincial government closer together.
The teachers’ federation declared an impasse at the bargaining table in mid-October after the government would not negotiate on issues like classroom size and complexity.
Asked if more pay for teachers or more adults in classrooms to provide assistance to students is the main goal in negotiations, Becotte said both were important.
“It’s not a one-or-the-other (thing),” she replied. “We are going to lose teachers to other provinces as we fall behind and we want to ensure that we have the best teachers here in Saskatchewan to support our students. But we need to ensure that our students have the resources that they need.”
Jeremy Cockrill, the province’s education minister, previously said he’s concerned about the possibility of a strike and wants to reach an agreement with the federation.
Becotte said the province is falling behind after a decade of disruptions. According to Becotte, 40 per cent more students need additional supports while the number of educational assistants, educational psychologists and speech language pathologists has been steadily decreasing across school divisions.
“As we have more students who require support but (with) less support (we’re) able to provide them, it just means that those needs continue to grow and grow,” said Becotte.