Province revises binding arbitration offer to Sask. teachers: email

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The province’s binding arbitration offer has been revised to include a class complexity framework and wages, according to an email sent to the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) executive this week.

The document, provided to the Regina Leader-Post on Wednesday morning, thanks STF members for attending an information session on Tuesday night that detailed two possible paths forward.

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Option 1 includes continued job action with the potential for the government-trustee bargaining committee (GTBC) to change its mandate and return to negotiations, and the “possibility of a forced resolution.”

Option 2 includes agreeing to binding arbitration for wages and a class complexity framework, with all other previously agreed to matters being part of the arbitrated agreement.

The email was also sent to all school staff liaisons, local association presidents and vice-presidents, asking them to share information provided during Tuesday’s meeting with STF members.

“Please encourage discussion and field questions as you are able to,” the email states. “Members will need accurate information before completing a survey that will be sent to their personal preferred email address.”

If the second option is chosen, the email says the end of sanctions would be announced once results of the survey are received at noon on Friday.

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The email also cites the TBC’s initial proposal in March for binding arbitration on the “single issue of class size and complexity,” which was rejected by the GTBC. It says the GTBC came to the TBC on June 8 with the revised binding arbitration offer.

The email asks recipients to encourage all members to attend a town hall scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to talk about the two options.

The STF announced another impasse in contract negotiations last week and resumed work-to-rule job action on Monday after rejecting the GTBC’s request for binding arbitration.

The STF and province have been in talks since last May and the current collective bargaining agreement expired last August. A binding commitment to funding issues related to class size and complexity has remained a major sticking point, leading to the longest string of job action in the province’s history.

More to come…

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