Teachers and supporters take to the streets in North Battleford for second day of strike action. (Trey Smith/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Teachers hit the streets

Second day of teachers’ strike sees another big turnout in Battlefords-Meadow Lake area

Jan 22, 2024 | 5:22 PM

Teachers once again were out in their snow pants and toques walking the pavement in North Battleford and Meadow Lake today on the second day of strike action.

The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) announced the second job walk off last week, with the potential for further sanctions to come following stalled contract negotiations with the province.

Micheal Hagel, president of the Tri-West Teachers’ Association and member of the STF executive, took part in the strike in North Battleford, outside Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill’s office, off 100 Street.

“We’re out here fighting for students and trying to make classroom conditions better for the students, and hoping the government will come back to the table to bargain with us and actually want to discuss [issues] to make things batter for students,” he said.

In addition to looking for improvements to complex classrooms and classroom size, the teachers’ union also wants a salary increase to compensate for the impact of inflation.

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The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is asking for an increase of two per cent per year plus an adjustment for cost of living or the consumer price index (CPI). Hagel said the province and the federation are far apart on the amount. The province estimates the federation is requesting a 23.5 per cent increase over four years, while it is offering seven per cent over three years.

“Based on the math they [the province] are doing, there is definitely a big gap,” Hagel said. “Like our STF president [Samantha Becotte] said, that’s just an opening offer. We’d be happy to go back and negotiate. But they need to come with more than one offer and not want to talk about anything else.”

Local teacher with Living Sky School Division and Battlefords NDP candidate Tom Kroczynski was also taking part in today’s strike in North Battleford.

He noted the province has put up billboards since this past summer about how much money they’ve put into education and how much they’ve offered teachers in the most recent bargaining round. But Kroczynski added he believes the province’s information is not entirely true.

“It’s interesting to see the government hasn’t changed anything,” he said. “They talked about getting this bargaining done at the table. Meanwhile, those [digital] billboards are still up. You can see them from here right now sharing information. So bargaining at the table? They’ve been bargaining on those billboards since July. That’s really frustrating. That’s one of the reasons we’re out here.”

Teachers out picking in Meadow Lake today. (Matt Ryan/meadowlakeNOW)

On seeing a second day of the teachers strike, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill told battlefordsNOW this job action is the teachers’ union’s decision.

“Ultimately, job action is the choice of union leadership,” he said. “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 had “a fair deal” on the table for teachers.

“We are happy to negotiate that, as we have with several other public sector unions all across government,” he said.

Cockrill noted the province is working on numerous other bargaining agreements for various sectors but the teachers’ union is the only group not at the negotiation table.

“We know that job action does have negative impacts on families, and certainly our kids,” he said. “We think that kids should be in school. That’s where they belong, and it’s disappointing to see our teachers’ union taking this sort of action to keep kids out of the classroom.”

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW