The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation says an impasse has been reached and as a result the union will resume job action on Friday following a breakdown in negotiations with the province.

Friday’s job action includes a province-wide withdrawal of noon-hour supervision and one-day rotating strikes.

Strikes on Friday will affect:

  • Prince Albert and Area Teachers’ Association
    • Saskatchewan Rivers School Division
    • Prince Albert Catholic School Division
  • Tri-West Teachers’ Association
    • Living Sky School Division
    • Light of Christ School Division
    • Sakewew High School (North Battleford)
  • Association locale des enseignantes et enseignants fransaskois (Conseil des écoles fransaskoises)
    • École St Isidore De Bellevue (Prince Albert)
    • École Valois (Prince Albert)
    • École Père Mercure (North Battleford)
  • Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation
    • North Central Campus (Prince Albert)

“The Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee promised a renewed mandate when it came back to the bargaining table, but it was readily apparent that the mandate was extremely limited,’’ said Samantha Becotte, president of the STF.

“They immediately began stalling tactics that undermined good faith negotiations. Instead of beginning Monday morning, the GTBC delayed until Monday afternoon, then pushed Tuesday’s start to 5:30 p.m., before eventually cancelling altogether. The GTBC promised a renewed mandate when it came back to the bargaining table, but it is unable to negotiate without directly consulting the Minister of Education,” Becotte added.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said in a video posted to social media Tuesday night that he's "disappointed to hear that the teachers' union has once again walked away from the bargaining table."

He said the Government Trustee Bargaining Committee made two new commitments to "address the STF leadership's outstanding concerns."

One was a new offer around teacher salaries, and the other was a commitment outside of the contract regarding classroom composition.

"They asked for class size and composition funding to be annualized. We've offered that. They asked for the two innovative pilot projects to be annualized. We've offered that. They asked for the same salary deal that MLAs get. We offered that. They asked for workplace safety enhancements, and we've offered that. And they've asked for the ability to manage their own dental plan, and we have offered that."

Further job action is expected following the February break.