Teacher strikes shutter some schools as STF announces more job actions for Friday

Striking teachers were on freezing picket lines instead of inside their classrooms on Tuesday, rallying with supporters in Regina on the second of five consecutive days of rotating job action.

The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) said Tuesday that teachers in the following school divisions won't supervise lunch or extracurricular activities on Friday:

That will make a full week of rotating strikes after teachers province-wide refused extracurricular duties on Monday followed by full-day strikes in several school divisions on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, teachers will withdraw noon-hour supervision and extra-curricular services in more school divisions, including Regina Public Schools, while Thursday will bring more withdrawals of noon-hour supervision at school divisions including Lloydminister public and Catholic schools.

STF president Samantha Becotte says teachers hoped they would not have to escalate job action and acknowledged the disruptions to parents and families, whom she said remain overall supportive.

"Everyone understands the benefit of high quality, publicly funded, publicly accessible education system, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like our elected officials have the same understanding of the investment," Becotte told reporters from Saskatoon on Tuesday.

"And they definitely don't have the same level of priority placed on ensuring students are getting the supports that they need in our schools."

Dan Koskie says he had to pick-up his oldest child from Ecole St. Pius in Regina nearly two hours earlier than usual on Tuesday due to the strikes, but says he supports teachers.

"We gotta do what we gotta do, but I want classrooms to have the right supports and class size so I support them," he told CBC outside the school on Tuesday. 

"I think the teachers did a pretty good job of giving the public some time to figure out how to get their kids on time … I was able to make it work."

The province and the union have blamed each other for the months-long bargaining deadlock, which has left teachers without a contract since August.

On Monday, the Ministry of Education called the rotating strikes "unfortunate," and said negotiators have been "waiting and ready" to bargain.

"Teachers and students should be in the classroom, and the teachers' union should be at the bargaining table," a spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to CBC. 

The province says its bargaining committee has offered a new wage increase, and that it will make annual the $53.1 million in recent funding for class size and complexity, outside of its contract with teachers.