Dozens of Regina students stage walk-out in support of striking Sask. teachers
Action comes days after teachers began rotating strikes
Following in the snowy footprints of their teachers, Regina students walked off school grounds Friday in support of teachers in the stalled contract negotiations between their union and the province.
Cadan Manz, 16, said he feels that teachers have been "cut short" in past years. He's hoping to be one of the reasons the Saskatchewan government reaches a deal with teachers.
"I feel like this is the right thing to do," Manz said standing outside the Legislative Building in Regina. He said he has his parents' support.
Contract negotiations between the province and the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation has been at a standstill for months, with both blaming the other for the delay. So far, it's led to two provincewide teacher walkouts in January and the beginning of rotating walkouts earlier this week.
The two bargaining committees don't see eye-to-eye on negotiation issues including teachers' salary, and class size and complexity.
"Having classrooms with over 30 students is very hard to learn in with one teacher," Manz said. "They're trying to bounce around to every student that has questions, and every student has different learning styles."
Manz was among the several dozen students gathered on the sidewalk at the legislature, many carrying handmade signs.
One read, "Come to my class. Let's see how much work you get done." Another read, "Give us the education we deserve!"
The Ministry of Education called its proposal — a seven per cent salary increase over four years — a fair deal that would ensure Saskatchewan teacher salaries remain above the Western Canadian average, the ministry said in an email Thursday.
The teachers' proposal seeks a two per cent increase adjusted with the Consumer Price Index to account for inflation. The government said the CPI is not a factor in any other collective agreement, and that would amount to a 23.4 per cent increase over four years.
"We also know that affordability is top of mind for families right now, which is why a fair deal for teachers must also be a fair deal for taxpayers," the ministry said in its statement.
A conciliation board report, meant to aid the two in reaching an agreement, says despite a seven per cent salary increase between 2017 and 2023, the value of salaries dropped by about 8.5 per cent overall because of inflation.
The two sides also don't agree on how class size and complexity should be managed. The federation says the government won't talk about class size or complexity as part of negotiations despite it being tied to learning capability.
To that issue, the government has pointed to a recent $53.1 million funding announcement for enrolment and class complexity.
Noah McCabe, a 16-year-old at Michael A. Riffel High School, says schools are not receiving enough funding. He supports the Teachers' Federation.
"The teachers' strike has caused me a lot of stress, actually," McCabe said. "Just recently, the day that they went on strike was right before finals and we couldn't really practise for our finals."
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With files from David Houle