Parent says mounting frequency of teacher job action taking toll on working families

As Saskatchewan MLAs take their seats in the legislature on Monday to begin their spring sitting, students’ desks and teachers’ chairs will sit empty across the rest of Regina.

A one-day rotating teachers’ strike has closed schools in several school divisions, including public and Catholic schools in the province’s capital. Both divisions say non-teaching staff will still report to work Monday.

Teachers are also striking in the Prairie South, South East Cornerstone and Holy Family Catholic school divisions, as well as two Saskatchewan Distance Learning campuses and seven French language schools across the province. 

Ayo Daniel Abiola said he doesn’t know how he will juggle work as an engineer with caring for his six-year-old son, who will be home from his public elementary school in Regina.

Abiola said he and his wife both work full-time and the last week of job action has been disruptive, but they are thankful they still have daycare for their four-year-old son, who will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.

“Obviously, you have to make that emergency arrangement when your options are to either stay home with the kids because they are little, or find ways to do your daily job or your work with them around, which is not ideal in any way at all,” he told CBC on Friday.

“The frequency of it is just getting a lot.”

Many of the striking teachers will be demonstrating outside the legislature Monday morning, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) said on Friday.

It marks the sixth consecutive day of job action by the STF, after teachers rotated withdrawing lunch hour supervision and extracurricular duties every day last week.

And starting Tuesday, teachers province-wide will refuse extra-curricular activities like sports, clubs, school trips and graduation planning, for at least two days, STF president Samantha Becotte said on Friday.

“We recognize that these actions we’re taking right now do create a disruption, but [students] have experienced a disruption in their education and a decline in the supports that are available in their schools over the last 10 years,” she told reporters. 

“And teachers are taking a stand to say we cannot continue to fill the gaps any longer.”

Job actions stretch to 8 straight days

The federation and province have been in a bargaining deadlock for months, disagreeing on whether class size and complexity should be included in the new agreement. Talks resumed briefly earlier in February, and now both parties have accused the other of walking away from the table.

CBC News has made multiple requests for an interview with Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill since Monday, but he has not been made available.

In identical emailed statements sent to CBC on Monday, Thursday and Friday, the education ministry called the strikes “unfortunate” and blamed teachers for disrupting student learning and inconveniencing families.

It said $53.1 million in funding for class complexity — which includes previously announced amounts of $3.6 million for a pilot program in eight school divisions and $40 million for school divisions dealing with growing enrolment — will be made into annual commitments, a deal supported by the Saskatchewan School Boards Association. 

However, teachers say they want to see commitments in their contract, so the money can’t be pulled away.

When CBC News asked follow-up questions specifically about the new job action announced by the STF on Friday, a ministry spokesperson said there was “no new information to share right now regarding this matter.”

Abiola said he hopes the job action ends soon with a deal that strengthens public education.

“It’s just becoming obvious that the issue is not going to go away,” he said. 

“The hope is that the parties involved can come to a resolution and there will be some way … for families like mine and others not to continue to have to deal with the uncertainty around this situation.”