REGINA - On the same day as the Speech from the Throne at the Legislature, teachers from the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation were completing a vote that could lead to sanctions or further job action.
STF members were finishing up voting Wednesday, and the union has announced their plans to release the results at a news conference Friday morning in Saskatoon.
While that vote was taking place around the province, STF President Samantha Becotte was at the Legislature in Regina for the Speech from the Throne. Afterwards, she expressed her frustrations to the media about the status of negotiations with the province.
Becotte said that “over the last nine days of bargaining we have seen zero movement from this government from their original position, and a complete refusal to negotiate nine out of the 10 proposals that we brought forward, some of them trying to address the significant issues that we have in our schools — specifically class size and complexity, the violence in the classrooms, and trying to have meaningful action towards truth and reconciliation.
“So we are unfortunately at this point starting conciliation hopefully soon, looking at establishing a conciliation panel, and at the same time the Executive made the decision to hold a sanctions vote, which is being held starting yesterday and finish later today, and will be announcing the results on Friday.”
Becotte said her hope is the sanctions vote will “encourage the government, as well through the conciliation process, to help move from their position and help us negotiate a deal. That is our goal, we are hoping not to have any action. But the sanctions could be anything from a withdrawal of voluntary services, right through to a withdrawal of professional services or a strike. Those things can happen provincewide, or on a rotating basis, but like I said, that is not our goal. Our goal is to have the government come to the table and engage in true, good faith negotiations with teachers.”
Regarding the Throne Speech itself, Becotte called it “underwhelming.”
“There was nothing about an investment in education. We have been talking about underfunding in education for a decade. We used to be first in the country, and unfortunately we’ve slipped down to one of the lower per student funding in the country, and our students deserve better. We have larger class sizes than we ever had before, we have more students with fewer teachers. We have fewer professional resources. We don’t have the mental health supports that we need in our schools.”
Education Minister Cockrill responds
When asked by reporters at the Legislature Wednesday about the issues raised by STF about class size and complexity, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill continues to maintain those issues should not be at the bargaining table.
“I have been clear on this, I’ll continue to be clear on this. We believe that those challenges are best addressed by the school divisions. We have 27 locally elected school divisions that I think know their communities better than almost anybody, they understand dynamics within a specific school and staffing in their sets of school. So my hope is that we can continue to work to school divisions on class size complexity. …We don’t feel like that should be bargained at a provincial level.”
The teachers union had declared an impasse in negotiations last week and had walked away from the bargaining table. Cockrill maintains his government is still ready to talk at the bargaining table.
“We brought our opening offer (of a) seven per cent increase over three years. I understand the Teachers Federation has made their opening offer as well. We haven’t received a counter to our offer as far as I am aware. Again, I said it last week, we’re at the bargaining table. We’re ready to discuss compensation for teachers in this province. We think that what we put is a fair deal but we’re certainly willing to have a discussion around that, and we’re there at the bargaining table waiting to go.”
As for whether the government might consider back to work legislation or even using the notwithstanding clause in a strike situation, Cockrill said “it’s not something we’ve considered at this point.”
“We want to bargain with the Teachers’ Federation. That’s where the best deals are made. We want a deal that’s fair for teachers, but also reasonable for the people of this province, and again… we’ve seen over the last number of years, specifically the last couple of years through the pandemic, how important it is for kids to be in classrooms. How important it is for kids to be able to play football and volleyball and participate a band. I mean, it was a choir from Riffel High School here today. Those are important parts of a child education as they grow and develop. So certainly we would hope that those services would be continued while we have those bargaining discussions ongoing.”
Next steps for STF
In addition to the sanctions vote, STF is planning rallies at a number of minister’s offices, including Saturday in Saskatoon at Minister Paul Merriman’s office, and at Education Minister Cockrill’s office on Nov. 4.
“They are the ones that are not making our children a priority and they’re the ones that should be putting our kids first and should be ensuring that they can be successful through our pre K to 12 publicly funded schools,” said Becotte.
As for whether a full blown strike can be averted, Becotte said that is “completely up to government.”
“We need to start to see the government come to the table willing to find solutions to address class sizes and class complexity. Like I said, teachers do not want to see disruptions, but teachers also can’t continue down this path because we just know it is not what is best for kids. We need to start to see the supports for our students.”
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