Teacher talks bogged down over pay
Contract talks have broken down between the province and Saskatchewan's teachers. The two sides were meeting to try and reach a new collective agreement following a one day strike two weeks ago.
However, the province claims the teachers returned to the table with a new — higher — demand for increased wages.
"The new demand of 16.3 per cent demonstrates the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation is unwilling to negotiate," Sandi Urban-Hall, a spokeswoman for the government's bargaining committee, said Thursday.
The 16.3 per cent increase sought by the teachers was proposed as an overall hike over three years. Previously, the teachers said they wanted a 12 per cent increase in the first year of a new deal.
Urban-Hall said the province was willing to consider some movement to its proposal, but not an across-the-board hike of such magnitude. The province has proposed a 5.5 per cent increase over three years.
On Thursday night the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation issued a news release to say government negotiators were not bargaining in good faith.
"Saskatchewan teachers came to the bargaining table with the assumption that the government was fully prepared to bring increased resources to the table," Gwen Dueck, a spokeswoman for the teachers' bargaining committee, said in the release.
"We heard that the government was prepared to provide teachers with an additional .55 per cent increase from their offer of 5.5 per cent over three years," she added, noting it fell short of their expectation of wanting "to take part in Saskatchewan’s booming economy."
The news release did not say what job action, if any, was being contemplated by teachers.
Graduation is just around the corner for thousands of Saskatchewan students finishing their high school years.
Urban-Hall said school boards were "formally requesting" that teachers do not do anything to "affect the ability of our Grade 12 students to receive their diploma and move on to post-secondary education."
