Teachers walked the picket line on Wednesday in Prince Albert as the budget dropped. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

STF bargaining

Teacher job action in effect for all of next week

Mar 22, 2024 | 10:34 AM

Schools across the province will not have teacher supervision for extra-curricular activities every day next week as the Sask. Teacher’s Federation continues its job action.

In addition on Monday, six school divisions, including most of the ones in Central Saskatchewan, will not have noon-hour supervision.

Prince Albert, Northeast and the Tri-West Teachers Association that covers the Battlefords area are included. So are the Holy Family School and Holy Trinity and Prairie Spirit divisions.

Teachers and the province have reached an impasse on whether classroom complexity and class sizes should be part of the teacher’s contract

The province recently said they would fund those issues and signed a deal with the Sask. School Boards Association. Criticism has been directed at the fact the bargaining committee negotiating on behalf of the province includes members of the SSBA.

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Teachers also say that not having the issue in their work contract makes it too easy for the province to pull back funding next year or the following years.

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Both sides are accusing the other side of not being willing to return to the bargaining table.

While teachers have not been in school at all for much of the job action, on several occasions, including last Wednesday when the provincial budget dropped, for the most part, they have withdrawn volunteer services for extra-curricular activities.

Recently, that resulted in the cancellation of the provincial basketball finals this coming weekend.

According to STF president Samantha Becotte, however, teachers are not willing to walk away from their biggest bargaining point – class size and complexity.

“For weeks we have made it clear that job action would escalate if government continued its refusal to negotiate or agree to binding arbitration on class size and complexity – the issue that is most important to teachers,” said Becotte.

“The withdrawal of extracurricular activities during the four days leading up to spring break demonstrates that teachers remain steadfast in their call for sustainable funding for prekindergarten to Grade 12 education.”

During a media availability Friday morning, Becotte commented on the extra-curricular withdrawal and students missing out on events like HOOPLA.

“Whether it is extracurriculars or it is a graduation, teachers love celebrating those things with their students so we don’t want to see them impacted, but we need to see that students, in the long run, are going to be supported in their classrooms,” she said.

“I’ve heard of teachers volunteering up to 1,000 hours in the school year, but that is extra to what the core business of education should be and that is providing kids with the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful into their adulthood, whether they’re entering into the workforce directly after high school, going into a trades program or going into post-secondary education.”

She said, that while the union has heard the backlash over the cancellation of events like HOOPLA but said they have received positive messages from parents who support what the teachers are doing.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com