The Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation will be withdrawing extracurricular services across the province for two days this coming week.
The STF announced Thursday afternoon that Tuesday, Mar. 5 and Wednesday, Mar.6 will see the next round of job action for the provincial teachers’ union, but with an escalated scope from recent rotating strikes.
Activities will be withdrawn province-wide through the two days, including the Prairie South School Division and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division.
The action will cover “all voluntary services involved in the organization, supervision and facilitation of activities, including athletics, non-curricular arts, field trips, student travel and graduation preparation”, an STF news release said.
“This job action can be stopped immediately when the government is ready to negotiate on all issues of importance to teachers, including class size and complexity,” said STF President Samantha Becotte. “With these items on the table, negotiations can come to a quick conclusion, resolving the longest teachers’ strike in the history of Saskatchewan. This would ensure that schools and teachers can move on in planning an excellent ending to the school year, including all the voluntary services from which students and families benefit.”
The move comes after the STF warned that further job action would be in the works after the Family Day long weekend, and in the midst of five days of service withdrawal on a rotating basis all over Saskatchewan this week.
The Ministry of Education said in a statement on Tuesday that it has acted on several issues the STF has brought forward, including “a renewed salary mandate and workplace safety enhancements. Unfortunately, the union continues to choose job action over bargaining.”
The STF press release included a warning that “If government continues to ignore this, we will have no choice but to further escalate job action.”
The union has also launched a new campaign to e-mail local school board trustees through their www.tellthemtuesday.com website.
