Sask. teachers headed back to bargaining but province insists class complexity not on the table

Teachers and the Saskatchewan government are scheduled to head back to the bargaining table next week, but they still appear to be a long way from agreeing to a new contract.

Teachers in the province have been without a contract since August and a series of escalating job actions by teachers only came to a stop Wednesday evening after the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) was invited back to the bargaining table by the Ministry of Education, who says the provincial negotiators had a new mandate.

But when the STF and the provincial government meet in Saskatoon for two days of discussions next week they are likely to continue disagreeing on classroom size and complexity.

"We have been very clear that we expect class complexity to be addressed and any agreement that does not include class complexity is not sufficient from our perspective and from the perspective we've heard from teachers across the province," said STF president Samantha Becotte on Thursday.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill struck a very different tone.

"I've said before, we don't believe those conversations belong at the bargaining table. So it that's not part of the renewed mandate," he said.

This all comes despite the province appearing to offer an olive branch Wednesday by announcing a new salary proposal.

Cockrill said the province would offer an extension of the current salary offer — 7 per cent over three years — OR offer the same salary formula that MLA's receive. That means salary increases would be tied to the consumer price index (CPI) — a common measure of inflation — from the previous year, with a zero per cent floor and three per cent ceiling annually.

In a video announcing the offer, Cockrill said it was a deal the STF has asked for.

The STF says that it wants a two per cent annual wage increase for each year of the contract, plus salary provisions tied to CPI.

According to a Salary Finance Report shared by the STF, the average annual salary of teachers in the province during the 2022/2023 school year was $88,526.

CBC has attempted to calculate how much each proposal would increase those salaries, but their reliance on CPI make it difficult to be exact.

Under the province's latest proposal, if teachers got the maximum of a three per cent annual increase using CPI, the average teacher would be earning $96,735 after three years. However, CPI is unpredicatable, so the increase could be much less.

Under the proposal floated by the STF — a guaranteed two per cent per year increase plus CPI — the average teacher would be earning $102,480 by year three if the CPI increase was the max of three per cent per year.