Saskatchewan teachers are announcing the beginning of a five-day countdown leading up to a one-day provincewide strike on Tuesday, January 16. The legal requirement for notice of job action is 48 hours. Teachers are initiating a five-day countdown to provide families with advance notice and extra time to prepare. Additional notice also provides government an opportunity to change course. Should government change course and allow their negotiating committee to bargain on critical issues impacting students and raising serious concerns among teachers and parents, the countdown will be stopped, and committees can return to the bargaining table.
“The last thing any teacher wants is for negotiations to impact the school year, so we are exhausting every possible option to get government back to the table,” says Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation President Samantha Becotte. “At every turn, teachers have said that committees are getting us nowhere on these urgent issues, and a new deal must include items to address class size and complexity. Government remains intransigent, even after conciliation. This is not bargaining; they are making decisions based on politics and student learning is suffering for it.”
