Police break up STF sit-in at education minister’s office

A sit-in organized by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) at Battlefords MLA Jeremy Cockrill’s constituency office was brought to an abrupt end after an officer from the Battlefords RCMP was brought in to remove the protesters.

“I felt that we were actually … disrespected,” said retiree Erik Hansen, who came from out of town to attend the protest on Friday.

He explained that Cockrill had given the group of about a dozen people — a mix of community members and teachers — permission to stay quietly in the office until it closed at 5 p.m.

“We were quiet, the secretary asked us to keep it down and we did and then all of a sudden, we have a police officer come in. There’s no need for it. It’s the way of this government and it’s unfortunate,” Hansen said.

“We have to come together as a society.”

Before the group was removed and disbanded, members of the local media were also asked to leave upon their arrival. When reporters stated that the sit-in was news, the office staff questioned that and went into Cockrill’s office.

As the education minister came out, he too asked the media to leave and be respectful of staff.

“I’ve met with several teachers who’ve set up appointments and certainly happy to meet with more but unfortunately I’ve got my next meeting here actually, so we’re trying to continue to do constituency business,” said Cockrill.

Micheal Hagel, president of Tri-West Teachers Association and STF executive, said the purpose of the sit-in was to ask Cockrill to call Premier Scott Moe to ask him to include class size and class composition in the bargaining mandate.

“Our plan is to stay here until that phone call happens, until we hear that they’re willing to include that in their mandate,” Hagel said, noting the group arrived at about 2:30.

Earlier it was announced in an STF release that both the provincial government and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association “signed a deal for classroom funding, outside of the ongoing collective bargaining process with teachers.”

Hagel said it’s a start.

“There’s also no way to guarantee it happens. If the government decides a year from now not to keep up with that funding or even the way it’s worded at the bottom of the page with the numbers it says — I forget the exact wording dealing with the allocations or whatever — that means that those numbers could fluctuate without any real consequence,” he said.

“But if it’s in the provincial collective bargaining agreement, then it has to stay those numbers and if it doesn’t, there’s a way for dispute resolution for it to make sure it happens.”

Earlier this week, Moe announced another $180-million increase to the operating funding, Hagel said that it’s a tricky number.

“It also includes funding that’s already been announced, so it’s not $180 million on top of some of the announcements that have already happened in the past weeks; it includes that,” he said.

According to Joyce Bachman, a teacher at Sakewew High School, the complexity they see in the classrooms is different from other schools.

“In a school where you have 20, 30 students that are at par and regular attenders and they’re at grade functioning, where I teach, it’s not like that,” she said.

“There’s so many outside things … That’s why complexity and all that for me is a big issue.”

The longtime North Battleford teacher said they want the government to write on paper that will help provide funding and support.

“It’s really needed and at my school, especially needed,” she said.

Susan Galbin said she came out to support the teachers because she was “appalled.”

“They’ve got our kids, our grandkids, our great-grandkids and the amount that they’re learning is reduced by a great deal when there’s too many kids in the classroom,” she said.

Galbin said she would like to see things settled as students have already been inundated with difficulties.

“I think that this is a really important time for them, and they need to have the proper teaching with the proper and relaxed classroom so they can learn,” she said. “Or we’re going to turn out a whole generation of kids in Saskatchewan who are really unequipped for the world. I mean, that’s the bottom line. And (students are) angry.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting an error made in the editing process.