The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation says job action will continue until the provincial government comes back to the bargaining table with a mandate to discuss learning and working conditions. This time job action is a one-day strike on Thursday, but not for all school divisions.

The affected divisions are Horizon, Prairie South, Prince Albert Catholic, Saskatchewan Rivers, Light of Christ and Living Sky School Divisions, and Sakewew High School in North Battleford. This includes any Conseil des ecoles fransaskoises in these areas and any online teachers who have students in these areas through the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre.

President of the STF, Samantha Becotte says Saskatchewan people have sent over 30,000 emails to government in less than three weeks, and yet when they received 18 letters from parents this fall, there was an emergency session of the legislature to invoke the notwithstanding clause and circumvent the constitution to enact a pronoun policy in schools.

Class size and complexity is one of the main sticking points. The province has said it wouldn’t bargain on this but Becotte says other provincial teach organizations have this in their collective agreements, and in Saskatchewan several conciliators and mediators have reported that it could be done here. She adds that the government has highlighted the wage increase teachers are asking for, which is an annual pay increase of two percent plus the Consumer Price Index average annual rate for Saskatchewan, for each of the next four years. She stresses that this is just an opening proposal for negotiation, but adds that MLAs have a tie to CPI in their salary increases, so if it makes sense for MLAs it should also make sense for teachers.