STF president speaks out against provincial government

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) said it is getting frustrated with the provincial government.

It declared a negotiation impasse on Thursday.

Now, it wants a conciliation board appointed to work out a new contract.

Patrick Maze, the STF president, told Gormley they aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on class size limits and salaries.

“We’ve offered some creative solutions in a few different areas, but ultimately the government hasn’t budged on any of their issues,” he said.

When Gormley questioned Maze on whether local school boards should be responsible for class sizes, he responded with concerns on funding.

“Ideally, (class sizes) would be (set by school boards), but the difficulty is when government has diminished the funding to school boards. Their ability to disperse the funds is restricted right from the start,” he said.

Because of this, he claimed, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed in the form of a contract.

“Our only way to enforce that government funds classrooms appropriately is through some provision in the collective agreement for class size and class composition.”

The province has formed a team to investigate the issue, but the STF is refusing to take part.

Maze thinks the ratio of government representatives to teachers is too high.

“Why would we allow ourselves to be co-opted into a situation of knowing that the deck is stacked against us right from the start?”

The federation is also asking for salary increases of two per cent in the first year, three per cent in the second year and three per cent in the third year.

Now, a conciliation board will be assembled to work out a deal between the two parties.