Sask. Teachers' Federation, education minister remain at odds ahead of vote on contract proposal

Months of exchanging jabs, shifting blame and failed negotiations have led tothe firstvote on a proposed contract offerfor Saskatchewan teachers since job action began.

The offer teachers will consider is a three-year agreement with a three per cent salary increase in the first and second years, and a two per cent increase in the third year, with a pay increaseretroactive to September 2023.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) and the government's bargaining committee have been struggling to come to an agreement since negotiations began in May.

Teachershave already previously votedheavily in favour of sanctions, and then job action in January and beyond.

Now, ayear after negotiations began, teachers will vote May 8 and 9 on whether to ratify the agreement.

STFpresident SamanthaBecotte saidthis is slightly better than what the government was offering in 2023.

Becotte said she's maintaining a neutral position on the proposed agreement, instead providing the 13,500 Saskatchewan teachers with information about the benefits and the consequences before letting them decide.

"They know what is best for themselves, what is best for their schools and what is best for their colleagues," she said.

Becottedid continueto criticize the province's bargaining committee and its negotiation strategies.

"We didn't want to go and sit at a table and hear 'no' for another two days as we had previously experienced. Unfortunately that is a majority of what occurred at the bargaining table," said Becotte.

The offer also includes an article stating that an accountability framework laid out as part of a memorandum of understanding to ensure provincial funding doled out to the Saskatchewan School Boards Association would benefit students would be followed and honoured.

The teachers' union has been steadfast thatissues of classroom complexity and size should be part of thecollective agreement.

"I don't think that anything that we agreed to within this process or anything that comes out of this process is going tosolve the issues ofclassroom complexity," she said.

"But what does come out of this process is that accountability framework that ensures that the restricted funds will be directed to classroomsand that there is accountability around those decisions."

What does this offer mean?

Becotte has referred to the contract proposal as a "final offer," stating that's the wording the government bargaining committee consistently used in negotiations, while the Saskatchewan government has called it a "tentative agreement."

Becotte rejected the government'swording because it implies there were "good faith negotiations" and addressed the needs from both groups. She said that didn't happen.

If the offer is not ratified, Becotte said it could lead to further job action, but would not make any definitive statements about that potential outcome.

She said that the teachers' union didn't reject the offer and continue job action because it has seen changes between this offer and the original offer, and becausethe government was firm in its "final offer."

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrillcalled thecontract proposal a "tentative agreement."

"If you're taking something to members, that's a tentative agreement and, you know, I can't control how the STF chooses to communicate aboutthis," Cockrill said.

"We'vegot the multi-year funding agreement to ensure that classroom supports funding are set at a minimum floor over the next four years.

He said there are things in the proposed contract that are good for teachers, students andthe province.

The Saskatchewan Employment Act lays out specific rules around "final offers," but teachers aren't included in that act.

Opposition NDP education critic Matt Love said he has "a lot of concerns" about the offer.

"This is the government that engaged in a billboard campaign before negotiations even started," Love said. "They were contracting these billboards to run down the value of teachers in Saskatchewan before they even got to the table."

Love said he wants to seepredictable, sustainablefunding for classrooms.

WATCH|Tentative agreement? Not so fast:

Tentative agreement? Not so fast. Education minister and STF president have very different takes

5 months ago

Duration 3:53

Saskatchewan's teachers will vote on a proposed contract on May 7 and 8. The province's education minister is calling it a tentative agreement, but STF president Samantha Becotte says it's "not a real good faith, tentative agreement" and that failure to ratify could lead to more job action.

Minister apologizes to parent for 'poor choice of words'

Cockrill apologized Thursday morning in the assembly and in front of reporters for comments he made in a private meeting this week.

On Tuesday, Cockrill had a private meeting with Taya Thomas, a mother who lost her daughter. Thomas was at the legislature as a guest of the Opposition to raise concerns about support for students in schools. Her oldest daughter Mayelle, who required intensive in-school support, died in December.

Thomas described the meeting, saying she and Cockrill discussed STF job action. She said he told her that the teachers were getting up and leaving whenever they didn't like a proposal.

"And then he said, 'what do they want me to do, give up my firstborn child?'" Thomas told reporters.

"Obviously, my jaw dropped at that."

Opposition NDP MLA Aleana Young brought up the comment in question period and Cockrill apologized.

"It was a really poor choice of words and I apologized for that. I'm human and I made a mistake," Cockrill told reporters following question period.

Thomas and Cockrill disagreed on whether Cockrill apologized in the meeting.