Union says Sask. teachers won't budge on contract asks as members strike Monday

Saskatchewan teachers held a second provincewideone-day strike on Monday, as a stalemate in negotiations between their union and the Saskatchewan government continues.

The teachers' collective agreement expired in August and thetwo sides have been in negotiations since June with no resolution. Their contract proposals differ so significantly in some aspectsthat a conciliation board tasked with helping usher them to an agreement foundit couldn't provide suggestions on some items, including salaries,class size and class complexity.

Monday's strike comes after some 13,000 STF members walked out and picketed across the province last Tuesday, the union's first strike since 2011.

"I can guarantee you not a single teacher who's out here today wants to behere. We want to be in the classroom with our students," said Peggy Welter, standing near the Albert Streetbridgein Regina as car horns blared in the background.

Welter, a member of the STF provincial executive, said one of the parties will have to budge on negotiations, but that "it's not going to be us."

WATCH |Educators are not backing down as contract negotiations escalate, says member of Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation:

Educators are not backing down as contract negotiations escalate, says member of Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation

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Teachers across Saskatchewan are on the picket line again. It's the latest job action after months of stalled contract negotiations between the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation and the provincial government.

Welter said parents and some of her own students were among the picketers. She said businesses have also sent donations in support.

In a news release Monday, the union said more than18,000 emails and phone calls have been sent to Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill, Premier Scott Moe and other members of the legislative assembly in less than two weeks.

It also said that if the government doesn't give itsbargaining committee a new mandate to negotiate class size and complexity, teachers will have "no choice but to continue to exercise theonly options we have left to bring them back into discussions."

In October, union members voted 95 per cent in favour of authorizing possible sanctions and job actions.

Becotte has said the union hopes to avoid a full-blown indefinite strike and the disruptions that would cause for students and families, but maintains the province has refused to budge on reducing class sizes or funding supports for students with complex needs.

"If you have classes of 30, 40 kids with a bunch of complexities in there, you cannot do your job the way you need to be doing it," Welter said.

WATCH | Students share how teacher job action is impacting them:

Sask. students share how teacher job action is impacting them

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Saskatchewan teachers are striking again, calling for rules on class size, and resources for kids with complex needs. The province has said those issues are not best dealt with at the provincial level.

The teachers' federation has accused the province of refusing to talk about salaries until other issues are resolved.

Teachers are asking for two per cent annual wage increases and to have salaries tied to the consumer price index a common measure of inflation.

The province, meanwhile, has said the CPI is not a factor in any other collective agreement it has signed, and maintains that its offer of a seven per cent raise over three years would keep Saskatchewan teachers' salariesabove the Western Canadian average.

The Ministry of Education said in a statement Monday it is disappointed by the strike, and has said that class size and complexity issues are best addressed at the school division level, not in the collective agreement. It also said it's addressing issues of class size and complexity with$53.1 million in government spending onenrolment and complexity, a teacher-led innovation and support fund, and specialized support classroom pilot projects.

The provincial government-trustee bargaining committee said on Thursday it is "ready to discuss competitive salary and benefits, but cannot negotiate without the STF at the table as well."

Becotte, meanwhile, said the union is ready and willing to keep bargaining.

Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck joined picketers just a couple blocks away from Welter.

"It didn't have to be this way. It didn't have to come to this," she said.

"There are solutions to be found here and the condition, the deterioration of our publicly funded, publicly delivered school system has to be addressed."