‘Difficult conversations’ held with provincial bargaining committee, STF president says

The last two days of talks between the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee were full of “difficult conversations,” according to federation president Samantha Becotte.

“We didn’t want to go and sit at a table and hear ‘no’ for another two days,” she told reporters during a news conference on Thursday.

But according to Becotte, that’s much of what happened at the bargaining table.

“The (government committee) opened the two days with a return to their opening salary proposal that they had posted on billboards across Saskatchewan back in July, at the beginning of our bargaining round,” said Becotte.

Samantha Becotte says the government went back to its original salary offer this week. (Vincent Mamer/Twitter)

After some back and forth between the two sides, Becotte said the province made it clear it was presenting its final offer, which included salary increases of three per cent in the first two years and two per cent in the final year of the agreement, with retroactive pay to Sept., 2023.

Becotte said calling it a “tentative agreement” – as the provincial government did in a statement issued Wednesday – would imply that there were good-faith negotiations held and that both sides agreed it was the best potential offer.

“There was no willingness to find further solutions within the bargaining process,” said Becotte.

A new line was also included in the offer, ensuring an accountability framework on new funding to address class size and classroom complexity would be honoured and followed. Outside of the collective agreement, there was also a letter of undertaking signed by the government’s bargaining committee chair to address classroom size and complexity.

Becotte said there are still trust concerns when it comes to promises by the government outside of the contract.

“Anything within the letter undertaking would be non-binding and there is no dispute-resolution process,” she said.

Teachers will be given time to look at the offer and will then vote on it on May 8 and 9, Becotte said.

“We wanted to provide teachers with the opportunity to have their say on the final offer,” she said.

The union began implementing sanctions in January after talks broke down. Sanctions so far have included single-day strikes, rotating strikes, work-to-rule measures and the withdrawal of voluntary support for extracurriculars and lunch-hour supervision. The sanctions were lifted last week as the parties prepared to return to the bargaining table.

During the news conference Thursday, Becotte also called out the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and some division administrators, accusing them of not appreciating teachers and the work they do. That association has sided with the government’s previous statements that funding to address in-class issues should be worked out with school divisions rather than included in a teacher contract.

“Relationships have been damaged, and they will not be easily repaired,” Becotte said.

If the final offer from the province is not ratified, Becotte said it will fall on the government to decide the next move. She couldn’t say whether there was any willingness to move to binding arbitration or any other potential solution, describing it as a “complex situation.”