Achi news desk-
Saskatchewan teachers will go into “work to rule” on Monday, meaning all voluntary services will be suspended indefinitely and staff will start and end their days 15 minutes before and after school.
At a news conference Friday, Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) president Samantha Backott said the job action will remain in place until the province properly addresses class size and complexity issues.
Both sides have opposing beliefs about how these issues should be addressed, the district doesn’t want to discuss them at the negotiating table, and instead provides additional funding to school committees that target class size and complexity. STF would like to discuss both issues as part of the negotiations and see the aforementioned school board funding included in a contract proposal.
“Work to Government is a labor action and sanction that limits the hours that teachers provide service to five minutes before the start of the school day and 15 minutes after the end of the school day and also removes all voluntary services provided by teachers, including supervision during lunch hours,” Bakot said.
“This is a significant escalation to what we had in the past,” she said.
Bekot also encouraged parents and caregivers to contact their child’s school division for fuller details on how this will affect them.
Saskatchewan teachers have been without a contract since August 2023.
The STF and the district began bargaining in May 2023.
An impasse was declared by the STF in October and February.
Teachers participated in work actions throughout most of the 2023-24 school year.
This is a developing story, more details later…
– with files from Drew Posti and David Prisciak.
