Teachers caved in '20 on class size, complexity

Saskatchewan's government refused to include the issues of classroom size and complexity in a contract with teachers.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation dug in on this key issue and voted to take job action, including a workto-rule campaign with teachers pulling their involvement in extracurricular activities.

The provincial basketball tournament Hoopla was cancelled. The NDP demanded the education minister resign over remarks he made.

Then, the government and teachers' union struck a deal that excluded class size and complexity. And teachers voted overwhelmingly to endorse that agreement.

That transpired four years ago.

The situation seems remarkably similar today, as teachers vote next week on the so-called “final offer” from the province. But major differences stand out.

Two days after the STF announced job action four years ago, the World Health Organization declared COVID -19 a pandemic. Ten days after the job action announcement, schools were closed for the rest of the year to prevent the spread of the virus.

That severely curtailed the ability of job action to influence government or public opinion. And it essentially forced the union back to the bargaining table.

Former STF president Patrick Maze acknowledged in April 2020 that the job action, which was backed by 90 per cent of teachers, had become “virtually useless” with schools closed.

So, amid a public health crisis, the union surrendered its fight for including class size and complexity in the contract in exchange for a revamped committee to address the issues.

The original proposed committee from former education minister Gord Wyant was criticized for lacking teachers and including an unsuccessful Saskatchewan Party candidate.

It seems fair to observe four years later that the restructured committee failed to adequately address class size and complexity, since they remain the key issues as teachers prepare to vote on their next deal.

In May 2020, teachers voted 85 per cent in favour of a four-year pact with cumulative wage increases of six per cent.

But what teachers will vote on next week cannot be accurately described as a deal, since it's only endorsed by the government.

STF president Samantha Becotte disputes Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill's characterization of the offer as a “tentative agreement,” since she decries the lack of “good faith negotiations.” The union leadership is refraining from telling teachers how to vote, even as it seems to be kind of telling teachers how to vote.

Regardless, this vote will test teachers' resolve to include class size and complexity in an agreement.

As in 2020, the key issues are excluded from the actual offer in favour of wording that suggests a pact with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and a proposed accountability framework to address these concerns will be “honoured and followed.”

We should know soon how much trust teachers place in the province's promises, particularly since the last strategy for addressing class size and complexity outside of a guarantee within a contract so obviously failed.

Or teachers may simply be inclined to accept a threeyear deal that includes wage increases of three per cent for the first two years and two per cent for the third year.

Teachers' endorsement would represent a big win for the government, while rejection could mean teachers take job action, perhaps on a larger scale, in the fall when the Saskatchewan Party is seeking re-election.

That may be the union's real strategy, since the government appears to be so far decidedly losing the public relations war. By the time the October election comes, the dispute with teachers will likely have become even more bitter.

More severe job action by teachers during the start of the school year could cost the union public sympathy, but it also represents a big risk for the government in what could be a closer election than we've seen in Saskatchewan recently.

Obviously, Premier Scott Moe would far prefer to hit the campaign trail having settled the labour dispute. But teachers must also know their bargaining power will increase the closer the election gets.