Sask. parents preparing for single-day teacher strike Tuesday

Most kids in Saskatchewan will have the day off school tomorrow, and it won’t be because of the weather.

Samantha Becotte, president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, announced a one-day teacher strike during a virtual news conference last week.

Members of the teachers union voted in favour of sanctions in October. With the contract talks stalled, the union said last month that sanctions were inevitable.

Five days’ notice was given in advance of the strike to allow parents and guardians more time to prepare and to push the government to respond. With the strike looming, we asked parents outside of the Co-operators Centre in Regina their thoughts on the strike and how it would impact them.

“It is a challenge, but thankfully I’m lucky because I might have the option to be able to work from home, so it makes it a little flexible as far as that goes,” one parent said. “So not optimal, but you know I’m in a lucky situation, I guess.”

Another parent said they’re offering to look after other children on the day of the strike.

“I do have kids that are going to be affected by this,” they said. “The good thing is that I’m going to be at home that day, so it doesn’t affect me, but I have offered to have other people’s kids come over for the day because some of them do have to work.”

“Hopefully it’s a one-day thing and not a long-term thing,” another parent added. “But I guess both sides feel that’s what they need to do to come to an agreement, so hopefully something comes out of it quickly.”

Negotiations between the two groups have been in a stalemate for quite some time, with teachers pushing for a new collective bargaining agreement to include stipulations on class sizes and classroom complexity.

Saskatchewan Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said that he was disappointed to hear of the union’s planned strike and said the government’s committee “remains at the bargaining table, ready to talk.”

According to Cockrill, the province is currently offering teachers a seven per cent pay bump over three years. He also acknowledged teachers’ concerns surrounding large, complex classes, but said those issues are best left to local school divisions to manage.

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has said that additional job action will follow the one-day strike if the government continues to refuse to negotiate on the issues of class sizes and classroom complexity.