Sask. Teachers' Federation announces 5-day countdown to 1-day strike
STF says teachers set to walk out on Tuesday
Saskatchewan teachers are planning to hold a provincewide strike for one day next week.
The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, which represents teachers in all of the province's public and Catholic school divisions, announced Thursday that it was starting a five-day countdown to a one-day strike on Tuesday, Jan. 16.
The federation said teachers will cancel the strike if the government will come to the table to bargain on the issue of class sizes.
"We do not want to take this action. We can avoid taking this action," STF president Samantha Becotte said in a news conference Thursday.
"At any time, if government is willing to discuss longer-term commitments to address class complexity, teachers will return to the table."
WATCH | Sask. Teachers' Federation announces 5-day countdown to 1-day strike:
The one-day strike will be the first job action since teachers voted overwhelmingly in favour of sanctions in October. Teachers and the government ended conciliation talks in December without a resolution.
In a statement emailed to media, provincial Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the government is disappointed the union is working toward a strike.
"We know that disrupting learning is not what is in the best interest of students, and that deals are reached at the bargaining table, not on the picket line," he said.
Regarding class complexity, Cockrill referenced this week's announcement about pilot projects on "specialized support" classrooms to manage behavioural incidents.
Becotte has criticized the eight-school pilot project as being too narrow in scope, although she noted on Thursday that something "as simple" as committing to expand the project to all classes across the province could bring teachers back to the table.
Maygen Kardash, whose two kids — in grades 1 and 4 — attend École Victoria in Saskatoon said she "absolutely" supports the teachers, who are fighting for better classroom environments for all students.
"Teachers are asking for smaller class sizes to address the complexities in the classroom, and I think that that's very fair," she said.
"We need to be listening to our teachers. They are nurturing our future caretakers, our future taxpayers. There's really nothing that's more important."
Kardash said it's time for the government to listen to teachers and to Saskatchewan families who have "experienced the fallout" of complex, large classrooms firsthand.
Schools to be closed
After the STF announcement Thursday morning, school divisions began informing parents that schools would be closed on Tuesday.
"As a result of this one-day strike, all classes, transportation (busing and taxi), before and after school programs and extra-curricular activities in Saskatoon Public Schools will be cancelled for that day," Shane Skjerven, the division's director of education, wrote in a letter to parents.
Regina Public Schools sent a similar letter to parents, letting them know schools would be closed.
When asked if teachers would be walking picket lines, Becotte said there are "different plans" across the province for what the job action will look like.
Conciliation report released
The last step the parties took in bargaining happened during five days of conciliation talks in December. The conciliation board's report, released earlier this week, noted that class complexity, including class sizes, "is, without doubt, the most significant issue to be resolved," from the teachers' perspective.
"In fact, in its submission, the [teachers bargaining committee] indicated that, in 2023, it is the issue upon which collective bargaining hinges."
Teachers want a new article added to the collective agreement that includes mechanisms to address class size and ensure there are enough professionals, such as English as an additional language teachers, speech language pathologists, educational psychologists and teacher counsellors, to meet the needs of students.
The government's position is that class sizes are outside the bounds of the collective agreement and better addressed by local school boards. The conciliation board report did not take a position either way, but did say it wouldn't take a "significant leap of logic" to suggest class size may be related to the salaries of teachers.
"Salary and classroom size are arguably meaningfully associated with one another such that teachers might reasonably expect to be given the opportunity to negotiate an acceptable balance between the two."
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With files from Aishwarya Dudha