REGINA - The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation members were back on the picket lines again Monday for another one-day teachers strike.
Teachers were walking picket lines at 35 different picket sites across Saskatchewan, including in front of offices of government MLAs as well as along Albert Street near the Legislature, where local Regina teachers were picketing.
The union states they have called this latest strike because the government is still refusing to give their bargaining committee a new mandate. For their part, the province has accused the union of refusing to come back to the table.
“We are giving this government every opportunity to return to the table and engage with us to find solutions,” said Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation President Samantha Becotte in a news release.
“If they continue to flat-out refuse to bargain on class size and complexity, which are the learning conditions for Saskatchewan’s students, we will have no choice but to continue to exercise the only options we have left to bring them back into discussions. I strongly encourage everyone in the province to reach out to their elected officials and urge our government to send their bargaining committee back to the table and stop further disruptions to the school year.”
Last Tuesday, when Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill was asked how much longer this labour situation could go on, he responded:
“I think many of us here have family that are teachers, friends that are teachers. Certainly I have been clear that I want to get a deal done, and deals happen not on the picket line, they happen at the bargaining table. The teachers union left the bargaining table in the fall. I’ve said today there’s some lines the government won’t cross on a couple of issues and I think those are reasonable positions. The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation may feel differently, but I think there are other areas that I think we can find that common ground and I’m committed to finding that common ground because at the end of the day we want to get a deal done.”
