After voting overwhelmingly in favour of job action if they cannot come to a deal with the provincial government, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation [STF] are feeling a bit better about the current situation after an in-person meeting with Education Minister Gordon Wyant Tuesday.

90% of STF members voted in favour of sanctions, in results that were released Monday.

Patrick Maze, President of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation said the meeting between the STF and representatives from the Saskatchewan School Boards Association went rather well.

"Overall it was a positive experience. There's always a bit of give and take, and I think that's why we're trying to work together to avoid some of the situations that could be caused due to the sanctions vote that the teachers conducted."

"The government seems to have a renewed commitment to want to work out a deal with teachers and obviously that's favourable for us. If both sides can work in the best interest of students and avoid any kind of sanctions that would obviously interrupt school activities then obviously that's a positive."

Maze said that if job action were to occur, they would provide 48-hour notice, however, he did say that he does not expect action to take place between now and the STF's next meeting with the Education Minister, which is scheduled for next week.

The sanctions could come in a variety of forms; from no action at all, to teachers eliminating volunteer time for extracurricular activities, to a full-scale walkout.

"Everybody at the table recognizes that there's a situation that needs to be fixed and that support needs to be provided to our classrooms. The concern then, as it has been throughout some of this process is - what is the best mechanism to deliver those supports back to the classrooms. That's where the conciliation report was kind of helpful in that it recommended some support be provided immediately."