Released on October 31, 2013
The Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee is disappointed to learn that the tentative offer negotiated with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation was rejected. The Committee remains committed to successfully negotiating a provincial collective agreement with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.
“The Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee negotiated a fair, reasonable and competitive offer to the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation that, if ratified would have resulted in its members being some of the highest paid teachers in the Western provinces,” Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee spokesperson Connie Bailey said. “We entered into this bargaining process in good faith and we had a very strong offer on the table. This offer included both the government’s and school boards’ recognition of the importance of teachers and our commitment to strengthening those relationships.”
When determining offers of compensation, the Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee does a thorough analysis of compensation packages for teachers from all other provinces, with special attention paid to the Western provinces, as well as supply and demand pressures.
The Alberta government has recently reached an agreement with teachers that will see the salary grid frozen for three years (0 per cent), followed by an increase of two per cent in 2015 and a one-time lump sum payment to be funded by government in that same year. The tentative agreement with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation would have provided a total of 6.5 per cent increase over four years, including a 5.5 per cent salary increase and a one per cent lump sum payment over the first two years.
“It’s important to provide a competitive salary for Saskatchewan’s teacher professionals and a lot of hard work and negotiation went into the development of the tentative agreement,” Bailey said. “While we are disappointed that the offer was rejected, we are still confident in the bargaining process and we will be working with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation to determine when we can go back to the table.”
“There are 13,000 teachers that work in our schools and help our students learn every day,” Bailey said. “We will continue to work with our teachers and our schools to ensure that education and our schools remain operating. Teachers, boards of education and the government have always and will always place our students first.”
The Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee is comprised of representatives from both the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association. The committee is responsible for representing the interests of both the publicly funded school system and the employer in bargaining negotiations with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. The Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee has successfully negotiated provincial collective agreements for teachers in Saskatchewan for more than 30 years.
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For more information, contact:
Government-Trustee Bargaining Committee
Regina
Phone: 306-787-6304
Cell: 306-533-6391