The stories are completely different, depending on who you ask. Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill says the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee was ready to negotiate but after a half hour on Monday, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation Bargaining Committee walked away.
STF President Samantha Becotte says they put two full days aside to negotiate, but the GTBC didn’t want to start until Monday afternoon. The GTBC committee was told the STF wanted to set the salary offer aside while they instead talked about class size and complexity. Becotte was under the impression the GTBC had no authority to negotiate on that issue, so the committee was asked to call the Minister and get further direction on what they proposed.
The two sides separated for discussions amongst themselves and then the GTBC wanted to schedule the next session instead for Wednesday morning. The STF pushed that ahead to Tuesday at 5:30, but then the GTBC cancelled altogether.
Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill has offered a Memorandum of Understanding stating support for class size and complexity, but Becotte says it’s not legally binding and wouldn’t be a part of their contract. She says, “We need to have assurances that we can grieve this process – that we can have some sort of dispute resolution if government doesn’t uphold their agreements. We have seen too many times promises being made and then the following year, clawing back funds.” She suggests, “the government is trying to make a pinky promise with teachers while their fingers are crossed behind their backs”.
Job action has been announced for Friday, with another rotating one-day strike. This time in Prince Albert and area, North Battleford and surrounding area, all of the French schools in these areas and the North Central Campus for Distance Learning. Also, Province-wide, teachers won’t be taking part in noon hour supervision.
Job Action on Friday, February 16:
One-Day Rotating Strikes
Members of the following local associations will participate in a one-day rotating strike. Demonstration sites will be across the street from Minister Cockrill’s office in North Battleford and at Premier Moe’s office in Shellbrook from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, February 16.
• Prince Albert and Area Teachers’ Association
o Saskatchewan Rivers School Division
o Prince Albert Catholic School Division
• Tri-West Teachers’ Association
o Living Sky School Division
o Light of Christ School Division
o Sakewew High School (North Battleford)
• Association locale des enseignantes et enseignants fransaskois (Conseil des écoles fransaskoises)
o École St Isidore De Bellevue (Prince Albert)
o École Valois (Prince Albert)
o École Père Mercure (North Battleford)
• Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation
o North Central Campus (Prince Albert)
Provincewide Withdrawal of Noon-Hour Supervision
The withdrawal of noon-hour supervision means teachers in all schools provincewide will not be available to supervise students who are eating lunch at school or taking part in noon-hour activities and teachers will leave the building during each school’s designated lunch break period. Although teachers often provide lunch break supervision, it is done on a voluntary basis. The responsibility to provide the necessary level of supervision to ensure student safety is held by school divisions under The Education Act, 1995. School divisions will make parents and caregivers aware of any operational or schedule changes due to Friday’s job action.
