The Legislative Assembly was packed on Wednesday with students from all around Saskatchewan as the Sask. Party and NDP debated the negotiations with the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF).
On March 9, the STF announced they would be implementing sanctions that would have them no longer providing services for extracurricular activities. Since an agreement was not reached by the 3:30 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association announced that high school basketball playoffs would be cancelled.
Before the deadline hit, during question period at the legislature, Minister of Education Gordon Wyant said if they don’t return to the bargaining table Pat Maze, the president of the STF is “the grinch who stole Hoopla from them. Those members are complicit in that.”
“I think people need to understand why things are the way they are. Children aren’t going to be able to participate in Hoopla because of a decision that the union has made, and so I think that’s fair the people of Saskatchewan understand that,” said Wyant in a media scrum.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili said the government has been walking away from students for years.
“When teachers stand up for their students, this government tries to blame everything on them. Now he’s (Wyant) not even talking about teachers. He’s talking about one organization, one person, when he knows that 90 per cent of teachers were in favour of sanctions,” said Meili.
“How does this premier have any confidence in a minister who so poisoned the well on these negotiations, who’s done such a terrible job? What is his plan?” he added.
Wyant said that the decisions being made regarding extra curricular activity stoppage should be “laid at the feet” of the union and Maze.
“We want the union back at the bargaining table. We think that we can get a fair deal for teachers,” said Wyant.
“I’m not sure how you can get to a deal with people that won’t come to the table to negotiate,” he added.
The sanctions from the STF officially went into place as of midnight of March 12.
Jordan Stricker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Estevan Mercury