Saskatchewan teachers headed back to picket lines after talks break down

As well, the union said demonstration sites will be set up across the street from Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill’s office in North Battleford and Premier Scott Moe’s office in Shellbrook from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.

Teachers also will withdraw noon-hour supervision in all schools province wide on Friday.

“Teachers understand that job action is a significant inconvenience to many families, but we appreciate the heartfelt and unwavering support we have received from all parts of the province,” STF president Samantha Becotte said in the release.

“Parents and caregivers, students, businesses, community groups and individuals understand that an investment in education is an investment in the lives of children and youth and the prosperity of our province.”

Becotte also posted a 45-second video to the STF’s Twitter feed outlining the situation.

“Enough is enough,” she said. “Come to the table ready to negotiate in good faith on teachers’ working conditions and students’ learning conditions and teacher compensation.

“We need to find a solution that ensures that we have predictable and sustainable funding so that students are getting the support that they need in all schools across the province.”

In late January, the teachers started one-day, rotating strikes at schools around the province in hopes of getting the government back to the bargaining table. That was followed in early February by the threat of withdrawing lunch-hour supervision in schools.

Both tactics were suspended Feb. 7 when the provincial government invited the union back to the table — and offered a different deal.

Teachers have been seeking an annual salary increase of two per cent — plus the Consumer Price Index average annual rate — for four years. According to Cockrill, that amounted to a 23.5 per cent hike over the four-year period.

The provincial government started with a counteroffer of a seven per cent salary bump over three years, but moved off that number in hopes of restarting negotiations.

On Feb. 7, the government authorized the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee to offer the union a new mandate: To either negotiate an extension of the current salary offer already on the table, or to negotiate that teachers will receive the same annual salary adjustments the same way that MLAs receive them.

That latter proposal was something the union had been seeking.

The teachers also have been eager to have class size and classroom complexity included in the deal, but the government has been adamant those topics don’t belong in the collective bargaining agreement. The province maintains those issues should be addressed by school divisions.

“They asked for class size and composition funding to be annualized; we’ve offered that,” Cockrill said in the video. “They asked for the two innovative pilot projects to be annualized; we’ve offered that. They asked for the same salary deal that MLAs get; we’ve offered that. They asked for workplace safety enhancements and we’ve offered that. And they asked for the ability to manage their own dental plan. And we have offered that.

“Teachers and children should be in the classroom; union leadership should be at the bargaining table. We remain at the table, ready to negotiate, whenever the union leadership is.”

Cockrill is to speak to the media Wednesday at 9 a.m., with Becotte holding a media availability an hour later.

by CKOM Staff

Saskatchewan teachers headed back to picket lines after talks break down

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