No 3.5% wage cut in proposals, STF says
Teachers group continuing talks with province
The federation representing teachers in Saskatchewan says a 3.5-per-cent wage decrease is not part of the proposals its members voted to bring to ongoing contract negotiations with the provincial government.
In March, the government announced it wanted to cut pay for public-sector employees by 3.5 per cent as a way to address the provincial deficit, which was pegged at $684.7 million for the first quarter of 2017-18.
“We know that we’ve got a set of proposals that has been passed by our membership and it’s quite different than a 3.5-per-cent cut,” said Saskatchewan Teachers Federation president Patrick Maze. The STF represents 13,000 teachers and school-based administrators.
“We are expected to uphold their wishes in the direction that they’ve provided us, so we are doing that at the table,” he said. “Government is asking for us to take a 3.5-per-cent
We are expected to uphold their wishes in the direction that they’ve provided us, so we are doing that at the table.
decrease that they’ve announced in the public and our proposals — that our councillors have passed — do not include a 3.5-per-cent cut.”
Teachers’ collective bargaining agreement expired in August. In May, the STF selected binding arbitration, which would give the final say to a third-party arbitrator, if the two parties hit an impasse in talks.
Maze couldn’t comment on negotiations directly, but said they are ongoing, with meetings set this month and more dates proposed for December.
The provincial government has experienced opposition from at least one public sector union over the cuts so far. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2067, which represents about 1,800 SaskPower employees, voted roughly 81 per cent in opposition of the proposed cut on Oct. 16.
“It is in the best interest of the parties that discussions of the issues occur at the bargaining table, through our respective bargaining committees,” the Ministry of Education said in a statement.