Sask. teachers' union reiterates that class complexity, size included in other provinces' contracts

Teachers from Ontario, B.C. and New Brunswick joined the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) in solidarity Tuesday at a virtual news conference.

Saskatchewan teachers' collective agreement expired last August, and the two sides have been in negotiations since June with no resolution.

Job action began last month with one-day provincewide strikes by teachers, followed by a series of rotating strikes, after talks at the bargaining table stalled.

Teachers want to negotiate class size and complexity issues, but the province refuses, saying those issues should be dealt with at the local school board level.

On Tuesday, STF president Samantha Becotte once again pointed to other provinces, where class size and complexity issues are part of teachers' collective contracts.

"We encourage our minister to reach out to his counterparts across Canada and see what solutions they have found with their respective teacher organizations," Becotte said. 

Asked for comment, the provincial government said its bargaining committee is at the bargaining table in Regina waiting for teachers to return. It said an invitation sent Tuesday morning was declined by STF.

"Outside of bargaining, the government has proposed an agreement with the STF to annualize the $53.1 million in additional funding for class size and complexity," the statement said.

Becotte said funding that the government announced in the form of a proposed memorandum of understanding can be terminated at any time if it is not included in a legally binding agreement like the contract.

Karen Brown, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, said Ontario teachers were able to include supports for students with complex needs in their agreement.

"Classroom complexity is a new reality for all teachers regardless of province. When educators are required to support so many complex needs in the classroom that they become stretched beyond capacity, every student's learning experience is impacted," Brown said. 

In B.C., provincial and local agreements include class size limits, staffing ratios, class composition and things like prep time for students with extra needs.

When the B.C. government stripped class size and composition language from the agreement, the federation fought back and the Supreme Court got the language back into the contract.

"It was a long road to get there, but the decision was swift and decisive. It was easy for Canada's top court to recognize the authority of collective agreements," B.C. Teachers Federation president Clint Johnston said.

Johnston said that having classroom complexity and class sizes in the agreement has been a mixed success in B.C., not because of issues in the language in the contract, but because of it not being implemented and resourced properly.

"When it's done properly, it's very successful. When it's done poorly, like many things, it's less successful."

Becotte said that the STF's proposal outlines ratios for each type of professional support provided in school — how many students can be with one teacher, one English language support teacher and so on.

Poll indicates support for teachers

A newly released poll indicates widespread support for teachers in Saskatchewan.

The poll was performed by Insightrix on Feb. 18 and 19. It surveyed 600 people, leading to an estimated margin of error of 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

It asked respondents whether they support the teachers' job action and compared answers from people with and without children.

The results were similar for both groups. Among respondents with children, 63 per cent said they supported the job action, 27 per cent were opposed and 10 per cent were neutral. For those without children, 61 per cent were in favour, 26 per cent were opposed and 13 per cent were neutral.

Becotte said STF expects to have more job action when classes resume next week, and that the union is looking at  the possible of longer strike action.