Sask. teachers begin voting on sanction options after contract negotiations reach impasse

Teachers in Saskatchewan are voting on possible sanctions after their union declared that negotiations with the provincial government on a new contract have reached an impasse.

Voting began Tuesday morning and will end at 5 p.m. CST on Wednesday, according to the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation.

The union and the Ministry of Education have been at the bargaining table since June. The previous contract expired in August.

Teachers' federation president Samantha Becotte said the province has refused to move from its opening position and is unwilling to even consider nine of the union's 10 proposals.

"We just continue to hear no, no and no. So the sanctions vote is a way to apply pressure and we're hoping that it gets them to move off of their opening position, or from the position of no, and come back to the table and truly engage in real negotiations," she told CBC Tuesday. 

In a video released on social media Monday, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill insisted that the province has been at the bargaining table since June, then took aim at the union.

"I'm concerned by the strike vote that the union leadership is leading. The intention of this strike vote is to jeopardize those in class and extracurricular activities from happening within our schools. We've been clear that we are at the bargaining table with a fair deal for teachers," Cockrill said. 

Becotte pushed back against the video on Tuesday, describing the post — and billboards from the provincial government earlier this year — as examples of a failure to negotiate in good faith.

LISTEN | STF says Sask. is failing the education system: 

Saskatoon Morning9:42Province is failing the education system with budget cuts and creating bulging classrooms, says STF

Guest host Theresa Kliem talks with Saskatchewan Teacher's Federation president Samantha Becotte about the STF's new campaign highlighting issues like classroom size and budget cuts.

The offers put forward by the province have not been fair, Becotte said.

"To say that they're at the table when all they do is come and and provide misinformation, or say no to any of the proposals that we've brought forward, isn't showing up to the table to really negotiate," she said.

Becotte said the results of the sanction vote will help determine what action the union could take, but that what happens next is up to the province.

In the past, sanctions have included rotating strikes and cutting voluntary extracurricular activities such as coaching sports.

Becotte insisted that teachers do not want to take action.

"We don't want to have disruptions to our classrooms, to our year," she said.

"But government is really, in their intransigence and that disrespect that they continue to show teachers, giving us no other option."