A glimmer of hope is on the horizon as the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation said it will be working over the weekend to try to come to a bargaining agreement with the government of Saskatchewan.
Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill announced on Thursday that a memorandum of understanding was offered to teachers with support from the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, saying that all parties would work together to create an accountability framework for the multi-year funding agreement that was signed between the SSBA and the Education Ministry earlier this year.
STF president Samantha Becotte said she hopes to come back next week with some good news.
“I want to thank Minister Cockrill for bringing this novel idea forward,” Becotte said.
“We have engaged in plenty of back and forth, including this morning, on the MOU and we are cautiously optimistic. This is the closest we have been to returning to the table, and we are willing to work through the weekend to make that a reality.”
Becotte described this offer from the ministry as a great start to help move towards a solution.
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the government of Saskatchewan have been butting heads over bargaining for several months, with teacher job action that includes rotating strikes and withdrawals of extracurricular activities.
The STF wants items like classroom size and complexity to be enshrined in a bargaining agreement, saying teachers should be able to negotiate their working conditions and hold school boards and the government accountable for long-term funding, but the province has said that falls under school board jurisdiction.
An offer of binding arbitration was brought forward by teachers in an attempt to break the gridlock, which would see the bargaining discussion go to a neutral third party to look over the matter, but the Ministry of Education refused.
Teacher job action has led to events like Hoopla being cancelled.
The outcry from students has been torn, as some protests have taken place outside the STF building, calling for a stop to anything that would affect extracurriculars, but other protests have been in solidarity against the province, with calls for more long-term education funding to be provided.
The government of Saskatchewan also said it will do everything in its power to make sure high school graduation goes off without a hitch despite any potential teacher job action.
Cockrill didn’t give exact details but said the ministry would work with the SSBA so that the resources, whether it be money or securing a location, were there to make sure students still got grad.
Becotte said this has been a frustrating process, and that these side conversations that have been going on around this bargaining process have detracted from the overall bargaining process.
She said when it comes to the government’s announcement about putting resources into ensuring student graduation goes forward, those efforts could have been put towards ensuring a new deal with teachers.
“The minister and the SSBA have continued to delay this process at every opportunity they can,” Becotte said.
She said she agrees with one point Cockrill made: that this deal needs to work for the government, school boards, teachers and, most importantly, students.
When asked whether there was anything that could be added to this potential framework brought forward by the government and SSBA to make it binding, which is something teachers have been looking for, Jamie Smith-Windsor, president of the SSBA, said school boards have been providing good accountability and governance of educational funding and decision-making.
She added there are some assurances within the multi-year funding agreement.
“There is a willingness of school boards to work collaboratively both with government and with teachers on a path forward that offers students and families more stability,” Smith-Windsor said.
Becotte stressed that there needs to be a way to make this binding, saying that a means of dispute resolution is required in case one party doesn’t uphold what gets agreed upon.
“If there’s no dispute resolution then it’s no more than a pinky promise made amongst two people out on a school playground,” Becotte said.
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