STF, gov’t still working to find a teachers’ contract arbitrator

Nearly three weeks after the province’s teachers agreed to take their contract dispute to binding arbitration, the two sides are still trying to find an arbitrator.

After months of, often acrimonious, off-and-on negotiations between the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) and the Government of Saskatchewan – including two contract offers which were shot down by teachers – the STF agreed in June to take the situation to an arbitrator.

The binding arbitration will decide the two still outstanding issues in the contract – wages and classroom complexity. Other elements of the contract were already agreed to by both parties. The arbitrator’s decision on the contract will be final.

As of Wednesday, both sides were still at the first step of the process — finding an arbitrator. The STF said it and the government were in the process of submitting nominations. The Ministry of Education said in a statement both sides also need to choose their representatives for the arbitration panel.

The STF’s statement said it hopes to have more to share on the situation closer to the end of July, possibly including dates for arbitration.

The ministry said when proceedings will start and a final decision is made will depend on the availability of arbitrators.

After arbitration was agreed to, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said he couldn’t guarantee a new contract would be agreed upon before the next school year starts in the fall.

Arbitration was originally where the STF wanted to go with the contract talks, but the government declined, with Cockrill and Premier Scott Moe saying several times the best way to get a deal was at the bargaining table.

After the second contract offer was declined by the STF membership, the government suggested going to binding arbitration. The STF said no at first, but agreed after polling its membership to see how it felt about it.

Classroom complexity – one of the two issues the arbitrator will consider – has been the big sticking point in the talks. The STF refused to return to the bargaining table for a while because the provincial government’s bargaining committee wasn’t willing to discuss the issue.

The STF pointed out other provinces have addressed the issue in their teacher contracts, but Cockrill said throughout the process class size and complexity didn’t belong in a teachers’ contract.

The provincial government tried several ways to deal with the issue outside the contract, including adding money for complexity in the spring budget and signing a deal on funding and accountability with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association.

The contract negotiations devolved into job actions in Saskatchewan schools, including “work to rule” which had teachers sticking to the letter of their job and not doing anything outside classroom hours. When binding arbitration was agreed to those job sanctions ended.