Sask. Teachers' Federation rejects proposed binding arbitration, declares impasse

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) has declared a bargaining impasse and has vowed to reinstate job sanctions following a rejection of binding arbitration.

Teachers will begin indefinite work to rule across the province beginning Monday, June 10.

Work to rule will mandate a restricted workday for educators.

Teachers will arrive at their workplace 15 minutes before the start of the scheduled school day and leave 15 minutes after it ends.

This also means a complete withdrawal from all extracurricular activities and all voluntary services. This means teachers must leave their place of work during the scheduled noon hour.

Both the Government Trustee Bargaining Committee (GTBC) and the STF met for the first time on Wednesday since an STF endorsed tentative agreement was voted down by the federation’s membership.

The province reported that the GTBC proposed a joint request for binding arbitration on Wednesday. The offer was refused by the STF.

Following the "no" vote on May 30, both the STF and province restated their shared commitment in reaching a deal.

The province stated at the time that it would seek to immediately enter binding arbitration – while the STF signaled it required more time at the bargaining table to discuss potential new items.

“We have always agreed with what Minister Cockrill has stated many times – the best deals are negotiated at the table,” STF President Samantha Becotte said in a news release. “We finally experienced real negotiations in the meetings held in May and want to build on that progress.”

"Binding arbitration represents the best path to get that done,” Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said in a news release. “Our priority is to ensure that instructional time and important student activities are not affected any further."

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The latest tentative agreement was reached on May 17. Over two days, 88 per cent of STF members voted, with 55 per cent of those voting no to the latest offer.

The offer would have covered a three year term from Sept 1, 2023 to Aug. 31, 2026 and include an eight per cent pay increase over the course of the agreement.

The deal would have seen an accountability framework signed by the STF, government and Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SBBA) attached to the agreement as a memorandum of understanding.

• Here's a complete timeline of the Saskatchewan teachers labour dispute

Additionally, it would have included $18 million more per year to tackle classroom complexity, the creation of a minister’s task force on classroom complexity and a policy table on violence free classrooms.

The STF previously announced work to rule job action on April 5, which ended on April 12 when the two sides resumed negotiations. The STF has declared impasses on two previous occasions, in October of 2023 and February of 2024.

The dispute between the province and STF passed the one year mark in late May.

STF president Samantha Becotte is scheduled to hold a virtual media conference on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.