Sask. teachers now voting on province's 'final offer'

Voting is open for Saskatchewan teachers Wednesday and Thursday as they decide whether or not to accept a contract offer from the provincial government, dubbed their 'final offer.'

Voting is open for Saskatchewan teachers Wednesday and Thursday as they decide whether or not to accept a contract offer from the provincial government, dubbed their “final offer.”

The province’s offer to teachers includes a total pay increase of eight percent over three years. A three per cent pay increase in years one and two and a two per cent raise in year three.

The biggest issues voiced by Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) President Samantha Becotte and educators around the province, classroom size and complexity is not addressed in the offer. Instead the province says those issues will be handled in a memorandum of understanding it signed with school divisions.

Part of the offer states that that agreement must be honoured, according to the province.

Voting is open for teachers from 8 a.m. Wednesday until 6 p.m. Thursday.

Saskatchewan teachers’ last contract expired in August of 2023. Initial bargaining between the two sides began three months earlier.

Last fall teachers voted heavily in favour of taking job action, which then began in January and included rotating one day strikes, pauses of extracurricular activities and supervision as well as “work to rule” – which began right before the latest offer from the province.