LABOUR

Saskatchewan workers set to strike

Saskatchewan may be seeing a lot of strike action this summer as teachers, health care workers, support staff, cancer agency workers, crop insurance employees and Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) instructors are all in strike positions.

Teachers

Teachers are fighting for fair wages, bringing their salaries between the levels of Alberta and Manitoba teachers—an increase of 16.3 per cent over three years.

At the end of May, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF)—representing the province’s 12,000 teachers—and the government-trustee bargaining committee entered into a third-party dispute resolution process when negotiations came to an impasse.

If an agreement is not reached, the mediator will have until the end of June to submit a non-binding report to the Saskatchewan government.

Since a 95 per cent strike vote in April, teachers launched job actions including a two-day strike at the end of May and a withdrawal of voluntary services—activities that take place outside of the school day. Since entering dispute resolution, teachers have returned to work.

Teachers have been without a contract since August 2010.

Health care workers

Physical therapists, paramedics and hospital pharmacists—members of the Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan (HSAS)—have been involved in a series of rotating strikes throughout the province.

Workers, in a battle with their employer—the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations—are fighting for better wages.