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Saskatchewan’s teachers have ratified a new contract with the provincial government.
In a media release Thursday evening, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation announced its members voted 85 per cent in favour of the new four-year agreement. Voting was conducted between Tuesday and Thursday.
However, the deal doesn’t address one of the biggest issues the union had during negotiations: Classroom composition and complexity. The union noted in the release that the Government Trustee Bargaining Committee wasn’t willing to include that in the contract.
“Acceptance of this agreement does not signal that teachers’ concerns have been addressed,” STF president Patrick Maze said in the release.
“However, teachers recognize the world has changed dramatically and settling the contract enables them to focus their energy on supporting their students by continuing to adapt their teaching strategies and provide quality emergency remote learning for the rest of this school year.”
The union and the government reached the tentative agreement on April 22. The deal is retroactive to Sept. 1 of last year and runs to Aug. 31, 2023.
Teachers are to receive a two per cent wage increase in each of the second, third and fourth years of the deal.
The STF said it will address the class complexity issue through a new province-wide class size and composition committee. The government previously created a committee to discuss the idea, but the STF declined to take part.
“We remain deeply committed to ensuring students have equitable access to the supports and resources they need,” Maze said. “We will continue to propose and advocate for solutions through the new committee.
“If government fails to implement meaningful change we will explore all avenues, including future rounds of bargaining, to ensure students’ needs are met.”
Schools are to remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s unclear if they’ll reopen in time for the 2020-21 year.