Samantha Becotte, president of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, joins teachers for a demonstration in front of the Legislative Building in Regina during a single-day teacher strike on Jan. 16, 2024. (Daniel Reech/980 CJME)

By paNOW Staff

TEACHERS STRIKE!

Teachers Federation announces rotating strikes starting Thursday

Jan 29, 2024 | 1:05 PM

More teacher strikes will be coming to Saskatchewan schools in just a matter of days.

On Monday, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) announced a series of rotating full-day strikes will take place starting Feb. 1.

The school divisions that will be affected by the first round of strikes are Horizon School Division, Prairie South, Prince Albert Catholic Schools, Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division, Light of Christ Catholic School Division, Living Sky School Division, and Sakewew High School in North Battleford.

The strike also includes Conseil des écoles fransaskoises schools in the aforementioned regions and the North Central and South Central Campuses of the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre.

STF President Samantha Becotte reiterated her stance from earlier this month, saying this is not a position the province’s teachers want to be in, but the government has left them no choice.

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“Teachers want to be in their classrooms supporting students, but government is making that untenable,” Becotte said. “There are many factors at play when we are selecting our next course of action, and we appreciate how this situation impacts people. Teachers are strong in our resolve, and support throughout our communities and across Canada has been so important. I thank everyone who has joined the cause for publicly funded schools. Our voices are strongest together.”

She claimed Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill has refused to listen to the demands of teachers and called out the Sask. Party government’s priorities in educational matters in the past.

“Saskatchewan people have sent over 30,000 emails to government in less than three weeks – and these are just the emails we know of,” Becotte said. “When this government received 18 letters from parents this fall, they called an emergency session of the legislature to invoke the notwithstanding clause and circumvent the constitution. They only seem concerned about the issues that fit within their political agenda.”

While teachers are off the job on Thursday, an Advocacy Day will take place to push the province to return to negotiations and discuss the issues of class size and complexity.

The STF has been demanding those issues become part of bargaining but Cockrill has said that is not a part of teacher negotiations, rather something that should be addressed by school boards.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com