Sask. teachers return to the picket lines
Members of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) hit the picket line on Thursday in the first of a series of one day strikes.
The job action involved 3,000 teachers’ association members and affected classes for roughly 35,000 students in communities across the province, including Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and North Battleford.
Jean-Marc Belliveau, president of the Prince Albert Teachers’ Association, says the STF is fighting for properly funded education.
“We’re doing this so the government starts listening, this is our third round and we just want what’s best for students and what’s best for schools,” Belliveau said.
The STF has threatened to engage in job action until the Saskatchewan government agrees to discuss classroom sizes and supports for students with complex needs at the bargaining table.
This is the third strike by Saskatchewan teachers in three weeks. More than 13,000 teachers walked off the job province-wide for one-day strikes on Jan. 16 and Jan. 22.
Tim Strom, a parent and teacher in Prince Albert, expressed his concern with the quality of education students are receiving because of larger class sizes.
“My daughter has 38 kids in her English class,” Strom said. “Teachers struggle everyday just to get everything done and try to make education the best for every kid it could be and in order to do that there needs to be more funding.”
In a statement to CTV News, the Ministry of Education says the government is actively working to address concerns around class size and complexity.
The statement said a fair deal for teachers must also be a fair deal for taxpayers, and argued Saskatchewan taxpayers already contribute the most per capita to education in the country.
The ministry has consistently maintained that decisions around class size should be left to the local school divisions, even following a December meeting with a third-party conciliator that ruled the issue could be bargainable under Saskatchewan legislation.
Belliveau told CTV News he does not believe the government is following the proper negotiation and bargaining process.
“Going forward I would like to see the government come back to the table,” Belliveau said.
The province and teachers have been at a standstill since October following initial bargaining talks in May of 2023.
-With files from Drew Postey and Josh Lynn
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Boeing is on the verge of launching astronauts aboard new capsule, the newest entry to space travel
It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Suter scores late goal, clinches series for Canucks
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.