麻豆传媒AV

Teachers in Yorkton and around the province walked out of work on Thursday in an unprecedented one-day strike in demand of better wages.


Schools were closed and extracurricular activities around the Good Spirit and Christ the Teacher School Divisions were canceled for the day. It was the first time in history Saskatchewan teachers have carried out a full strike.


Around 2,000 Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation members took part in a protest outside the province's legislative building in Regina on Thursday, while those in the Yorkton area attended a study day at the Gallagher Centre to discuss their situation.


On Friday, the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee extended an invitation to the STF to return to negotiations, which the federation's leadership sees as a positive sign.


"Given [that invitation], we make an assumption that they are prepared to bring increased resources for us to continue with the negotiations process," Gwen Dueck, general secretary of STF and chair of its bargaining committee told Yorkton This Week. "We believe that they have heard the messages of teachers, and seen how resolved teachers are as a result of the action that we took last Thursday."


The government has offered teachers a 5.5 percent salary increase over three years. The Teachers' Federation is asking for 12 percent in a single year.


Dueck says the government's claim that their offer would make Saskatchewan teachers the second-highest paid in Western Canada is based on a faulty assumption that teachers in other provinces will receive no wage increases over the next three years.


In any case, the issue isn't about comparing salaries to other provinces, Dueck said.


"Essentially what teachers are saying is that they want their salaries to reflect their value, reflect their worth to society."