The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation announced on Friday afternoon that teachers province-wide will be going on work-to-rule sanctions starting on Monday.
Work-to-rule means that teachers will restrict their hours to 15 minutes before school starts and 15 minutes after school while withdrawing all voluntary services including noon-hour supervision and extracurriculars such as sports.
The provincial government and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association announced recently that resources would be put in place to make sure graduations happen.
The announcement comes as the teachers and provincial government remain in a stalemate over a new collective bargaining agreement.
The main issue is over class size and complexity. The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation wants class size and complexity as part of the new agreement. The provincial government is saying class size and complexity will not be a part of the agreement and it is a responsibility of each school board.
There was some hope that both sides would get back to the bargaining table this week. The government had proposed a Memorandum of Understanding, which the Ministry of Education said has an accountability framework for classroom support.
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation says the accountability framework has no dispute resolution process and the agreements are not binding. The STF says they were only looking for one line in the agreement saying that the parties agree that the multi-year funding agreement and the accountability framework will be followed and honoured.