The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) is taking a "final offer" from the province to a vote, but STF President Samantha Becotte said she would not tell teachers whether or not to ratify the contract.In a virtual press conference Thursday morning, Becotte said the agreement had followed two days of "difficult conversations within negotiations" with minimal compromise."There was little to no movement on many of the items at the table over the last two days, despite the teacher's bargaining committee's attempts to reach a tentative agreement," Becotte said.The offer includes a three-year term with salary increases of 3% in the first year, 3% in the second year and 2% in the third year. It also included a line to ensure the accountability framework on class sizes and complexity would be "honoured and followed."Becotte said the Government-Teacher Bargaining Committee GTBC) insisted that they were presenting their "final offer.""Outside of the collective agreement, there was an agreement to have a letter of undertaking signed by the chair of the GTBC. This letter would contain items outside of bargaining that would address some of the proposals that teachers have brought forward," Becotte said."Unfortunately, as we have talked about with concerns around items outside of bargaining with classroom complexity, anything within the letter of undertaking would be non-binding and there is no dispute resolution process."Teachers will vote on the offer on May 8 and 9. Becotte said she will respect the vote of the 13,500 members and not instruct them on whether to accept or reject the offer.Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill told reporters Thursday morning the agreement would keep teachers paid more than the western Canadian average. He said he was "hopeful" that the agreement would be ratified."That's going to be up to the STF membership. I think we have a really good agreement on the table here. We've got the largest compensation increase for teachers in Saskatchewan since 2011," Cockrill said."There's some good things in this agreement that are good for teachers, are good for the province and, at the end of the day, good for students to ensure that we don't have sanctions going forward that affect obviously curricular time, but all the extracurriculars and important things like graduation."Becotte said teachers had lost 10% of their purchasing power over the past two agreements. She said it would be "unfortunate" if the STF had to continue job action should teachers reject the offer and the bargaining process had already taken a toll."The action that we have seen from government the actions from Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the actions of some division administrations have shown the lack of respect and appreciation for teachers in Saskatchewan and a lack of appreciation for the work that they do as professionals in classrooms across Saskatchewan," Becotte said."Relationships have been damaged and they will not be easily repaired. We need to ensure that we are working together in good faith with a real commitment to improving the experiences of students in all areas of the province."According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the average teacher's wage in Saskatchewan was $92,000 in 2023, earned amidst 190 instructional days. The average pay of a general full-time Saskatchewan worker was $61,000 per year.
The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) is taking a "final offer" from the province to a vote, but STF President Samantha Becotte said she would not tell teachers whether or not to ratify the contract.In a virtual press conference Thursday morning, Becotte said the agreement had followed two days of "difficult conversations within negotiations" with minimal compromise."There was little to no movement on many of the items at the table over the last two days, despite the teacher's bargaining committee's attempts to reach a tentative agreement," Becotte said.The offer includes a three-year term with salary increases of 3% in the first year, 3% in the second year and 2% in the third year. It also included a line to ensure the accountability framework on class sizes and complexity would be "honoured and followed."Becotte said the Government-Teacher Bargaining Committee GTBC) insisted that they were presenting their "final offer.""Outside of the collective agreement, there was an agreement to have a letter of undertaking signed by the chair of the GTBC. This letter would contain items outside of bargaining that would address some of the proposals that teachers have brought forward," Becotte said."Unfortunately, as we have talked about with concerns around items outside of bargaining with classroom complexity, anything within the letter of undertaking would be non-binding and there is no dispute resolution process."Teachers will vote on the offer on May 8 and 9. Becotte said she will respect the vote of the 13,500 members and not instruct them on whether to accept or reject the offer.Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill told reporters Thursday morning the agreement would keep teachers paid more than the western Canadian average. He said he was "hopeful" that the agreement would be ratified."That's going to be up to the STF membership. I think we have a really good agreement on the table here. We've got the largest compensation increase for teachers in Saskatchewan since 2011," Cockrill said."There's some good things in this agreement that are good for teachers, are good for the province and, at the end of the day, good for students to ensure that we don't have sanctions going forward that affect obviously curricular time, but all the extracurriculars and important things like graduation."Becotte said teachers had lost 10% of their purchasing power over the past two agreements. She said it would be "unfortunate" if the STF had to continue job action should teachers reject the offer and the bargaining process had already taken a toll."The action that we have seen from government the actions from Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the actions of some division administrations have shown the lack of respect and appreciation for teachers in Saskatchewan and a lack of appreciation for the work that they do as professionals in classrooms across Saskatchewan," Becotte said."Relationships have been damaged and they will not be easily repaired. We need to ensure that we are working together in good faith with a real commitment to improving the experiences of students in all areas of the province."According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the average teacher's wage in Saskatchewan was $92,000 in 2023, earned amidst 190 instructional days. The average pay of a general full-time Saskatchewan worker was $61,000 per year.
