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“It’s rural, it’s urban, it’s north, it’s south … There’s great resolve right across the province to support the efforts of the federation in getting supports into our classrooms.”

The STF, the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the Ministry of Education plan to meet on Tuesday. Maze said he hopes Education Minister Gord Wyant recognizes teachers across the province are united when it comes to “standing up for their students.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe addressed the STF vote Monday in Saskatoon. “We respect that we need to engage, and engage very sincerely and we will do so,” he said. However, he said that commitment to engage stopped at adding clauses on class size and composition to the collective agreement with teachers.

The federation wants to incorporate a mechanism into the next contract that would limit class sizes. The province maintains the proposal is not workable and struck a committee to find solutions. The committee — to which the STF refused to send a representative — is expected to present its findings this spring.

The two sides have also been unable to agree on wage increases in the new contract. In negotiations, which began last spring, the government proposed a $1,500 bonus funded from teachers’ health plans followed by two per cent wage increases in 2020 and 2021. The STF wants three per cent in 2019 followed by a pair of two per cent raises.

Last month, Wyant said the province’s teachers should have had an opportunity to vote on a “pretty good” contract proposal before voting on whether to support job action.