Morgan says teachers need to feel respected and valued

REGINA — Education Minister Don Morgan believes respect and understanding are factors in recent teacher issues.

It was announced Monday that 63 per cent of Saskatchewan teachers voted to reject a 7.3-per-cent raise over four years and a $700 pro-rated bonus in the first year.

“You can’t put respect and trust in a contract,” Morgan said. “The only things you can put in a contract are hours of work and terms and conditions.”

This is the second rejection of a tentative deal since a three-day shutdown of schools as teachers across Saskatchewan walked off the job in 2011. In October, teachers voted against a 5.5-per-cent raise over four years, plus one-time payments in the first two years.

As 40,000 teachers in B.C. begin a full-scale strike, focus in Saskatchewan — on both sides of the table — is on the conciliation process.

“What we’d really like to do is get an agreement in place so that funds can flow to teachers, we put the financial aspects behind and then we move on with the other issues,” Morgan said.

Those issues include the increase in school day hours mandated by a government-legislated minimum 950hour school year without a maximum number of daily work hours.

Morgan said teachers face a lot of new challenges.

“When you talk to parents, when you talk to students, they respect and value the teachers,” Morgan said. “When you talk to the teachers, they feel undervalued. So we probably need to reach out to teachers and let them know that we do appreciate, we do value the work that they do and try and work with them to address some of the concerns that are in their workplace.”

The most recent offer to Saskatchewan teachers was accepted by the bargaining committee and taken to the members with the recommendation that they accept.

“I think there’s a disconnect that’s there and I think that’s a sign that they have work to do between themselves and their membership,” Morgan said.