By Kellah Lavoie

Teachers announce second, two-day strike

May 20, 2011 | 4:53 PM

Teachers are walking off the job for a second time.

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation announced a 48-hour strike that will run Wednesday and Thursday next week. It comes after talks broke down between the federation and the provincial government trustee bargaining committee on Thursday.

The second stint of job action was not anticipated by Saskatchewan Rivers School Division (SRSD), said Bill Cooke, director of education.

“We had no reason to believe that there would be more, but now we know there will be,” he said.

It’s a similar situation for the Prince Albert Roman Catholic Separate School Division (PARCSSD), said Tim Jelinski, director of education.

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“We knew that option was always there for teachers, but we were hoping that process would run its course,” he said.

Both school divisions are urging students to stay home, as all classes, extra-curricular and transportation will be cancelled for the two days.

The last strike day earlier this month went smoothly for the SRSD and PARCSSD, with no students showing up to school.
“We thought that think certainly had the potential to go off the rails, but they didn’t,” Cooke said.

With the days missed from school growing to three, some decisions need to be made.

“When we knew there was one day, that was one thing, but now there is going to be three, I would imagine some thinking by the Ministry of Education, what are going to be the consequences of this for students,” said Cooke.

“This is not driven by students so we don’t want to see students hurt by this.”

Jelinski said it just means there is less time to get all the school work done.

“I think what will happen is there will have to be a concerted effort in terms of completing all the requirements, but if it’s not a prolonged withdrawal of service it shouldn’t impact student outcomes,” he said.

At this point it doesn’t look like the strike should extend the school year or affect high school graduation.

The STF is asking for a 16.3 per cent raise over three years, while the province is offering 5.5 per cent over three years. Both sides are saying the other is not willing to budge on the numbers.

This year is the first time teachers have been on strike in 78 years.

klavoie@panow.com