Class funding offer falls short: STF
Province offers ‘additional resources,’ but teachers’ union not convinced
Saskatchewan’s education minister has put money on the table to support more classroom resources, but the head of the provincial teachers’ union says it isn’t enough to avert the threat of job action.
On Thursday, Gord Wyant told Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) president Patrick Maze that the government is prepared to put forward “additional resources” to deal with concerns over classroom composition.
That refers to the diverse and increasingly challenging needs of students, which has become the central sticking point in negotiations for a new collective agreement.
Wyant came out of the meeting telling reporters the resources could be provided through the budget expected March 18, though he declined to share the monetary value.
Maze said it’s the first time he’s heard a specific number. But he said the figure is insufficient and didn’t come with a firm commitment that the money would be there for the long term. “It’s just words at this point,” said Maze.
“The supports that were listed in the proposal are far inadequate for what our students need across Saskatchewan,” he said. “The numbers that we’re talking in their offer just weren’t there to even be close to coming together for a deal.”
Maze said he will bring the proposal to his executive on Thursday night. But there are currently no plans to go back to bargaining.
“There’s a pretty wide gap there,” he said. “And so I don’t know that it would be purposeful to go back to the table to negotiate at this point.”
But Maze, Wyant and Saskatchewan School Boards Association president Shawn Davidson all said time is of the essence in their remarks following the meeting.
Wyant added that he now has a new mandate for a different wage offer for teachers. But that has not been the primary source of the logjam. The STF has sought a guarantee on classroom composition written into their collective agreement. The government has refused, saying that has caused chaos in other provinces.
The STF asked for conciliation when talks broke down last year. In a report released Feb. 13, the conciliator called on the two sides to meet to discuss the contentious issue separately from bargaining.
Thursday was the second such meeting, after similar talks last week. Wyant said the goal was to find “common ground” on the composition issue. Maze agreed both sides are trying to “bridge the gaps” but remain “way too far apart.”
But Maze did hint that the union is no longer insisting on a guarantee written into the collective agreement. He said they came with a new proposal, which he called a “concept for getting some funds into classrooms.” He said there are now “options,” but they have to come with a “tightly-worded” pledge.
“We can’t just have a trust and a handshake that it’s gonna occur,” he said. “We need to see it either in our provincial agreement or in some firm commitment in writing that that supports are going to be flowing into our classrooms.”