Provincial Education Minister Gord Wyant says the province is disappointed that the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation has decided to go ahead with a sanctions vote for a number reasons.
One being that the STF requested conciliation and that they’re not waiting for the conciliation board report to be completed before they take the sanctions vote on February 10th and 11th.
Wyant says at the end of the day, the upcoming vote is a strike vote and no one wants to see teachers on the picket lines.
The STF executive and bargaining team met after talks broke off last week with the province following four days of conciliation.
The STF has been looking to discuss classroom sizes and composition in the latest round of contract talks, although the province has said a collective agreement isn’t the place to discuss the matters.
Wyant points to the education class size and composition committee that was established last fall to the address the matters. He adds that both class size and composition were included in B.C.’s collective agreement and it’s not working out there.
The province is also disappointed that STF President Patrick Maze isn’t putting the province’s contract offer of a three-year deal that would see teachers get a one-time $1500 dollar payment per full time teacher in 2019-20 and an annual two per cent salary increase over the next two years on the table for teachers to vote.
A strike vote or a work to rule campaign are among possible sanctions teachers could approve.
The STF has been without a contract since August 31st, 2019.
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