Warning message

Please note that this page is from our archives. There may be more up-to-date content about this topic on our website. Use our search engine to find out.

WADENA Striking school support workers in the Wadena School Division are on the picket line in Kelvington today, talking to parents and other local residents about the school divisions refusal to resume bargaining meetings.

Its the first time since the strike began that school workers have established a picket line in Kelvington. The education workers are taking their roving picket line to the Saskatchewan School Trustees office in Regina on Wednesday and to Quill Lake on Thursday.

People are confused by the boards mixed messages, says union spokesperson Sheila Bindig. They hear the director of education offer to resume negotiations on one day, and employer representative Bill Wells of the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association (SSTA) refuse to meet the next day. It has got people shaking their heads and wondering, Just whats going on?

Bindig says residents cant understand why the division board wont give the provincial conciliator bargaining dates so negotiations can resume. It doesnt make any sense to parents who are anxious to see support workers back on the job, she says. But it illustrates the difficulties we have had with this employer over the last three years at the bargaining table.

School support workers plan to picket tomorrow in Regina. The picket line will be set up outside of the SSTA office over the noon hour to highlight Bill Wells role in the protracted labour dispute.

This is the fourth week of the full-blown strike by the 80 education workers in the Wadena School Division. They also spent 11 days on the picket line in the spring, as part of rotating strike action.

- 30 -

For more information:
Sheila Bindig at 338-7220 (c)