Sask. education minister won’t say whether offer to teachers is final

Both sides of the contract talks between teachers and the Saskatchewan government put out statements Wednesday evening, one side calling the potential deal a tentative agreement and the other side calling it a final offer.

On Thursday morning, Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill stuck to calling it a tentative agreement.

“If you’re taking something to members, that’s a tentative agreement,” he said.

However, Cockrill wouldn’t say whether there would be another offer made if teachers rejected the proposed deal.

“I’m going to wait for the STF membership to see if they ratify this vote,” said Cockrill.

STF president Samantha Becotte wasn’t willing to call it a tentative agreement, saying that would imply the negotiations held were in good faith and that both sides agreed it was the best potential offer.

Cockrill said he isn’t forcing the vote on this deal, as the STF isn’t governed by the Saskatchewan Employment Act.

According to a media release from the STF, the final offer includes a three-year agreement, with salary increases of three per cent in the first year of the deal, three per cent in Year 2 and two per cent in the third year.

It also includes a reference to the accountability framework in relation to the Memorandum of Understanding made between government, school divisions and teachers.

The minister said he’s hopeful the deal is ratified, saying it’s the best thing for kids in the province.

“I think there’s some good things in this agreement that are good for teachers, good for the province and, at the end of the day, good for students, to ensure that we don’t have sanctions going forward that affect, obviously, curricular time but all the extracurriculars and important things like graduation as well,” said Cockrill.

Becotte has talked about the broken relationship between teachers and the provincial government after the dispute, but Cockrill said he wants to get to a place where they can better that relationship.

“Bargaining is tough … There’s not a lot of winners when it comes to bargaining,” he said.

Cockrill said he wants to be on the ground, building those relationships in schools and divisions.

The teachers are expected to vote on the deal in early May.

‘Take-it-or-leave-it offer’

NDP Education Critic Matt Love said he’s disappointed with the “take-it-or-leave-it offer.”

“We used to be first in the nation when it came to per-student funding, and today we might be in last place,” Love said Thursday, adding the province has refused to budge on certain issues such as class size and complexity brought up by teachers.

“Quite frankly I have lots of concerns if anything in this offer will improve the conditions in our classrooms, those conditions that teachers have been raising for months.”

Love said he wants to see adequate, predictable and sustainable funding for school divisions and classrooms.

“I’ve looked at the budget and I see nothing but status quo (and) potentially even cuts coming in some school divisions,” he said. “I don’t see a budget that’s going to replace any of those supports that have been cut in the last 10 years.”

Ultimately, he said it’s in the hands of teachers to decide how to move forward when they vote on the government’s offer on May 8 and 9.

“At the end of the day, the goal should be putting supports into our classrooms so that kids can succeed,” Love said.

Cockrill offers apology for comments he made to girl’s mother

Cockrill apologized in the Legislature for asking if he should give up his first-born child when speaking to a mother whose daughter had died.

The minister said he used a poor choice of words in the private meeting with Taya Thomas about teachers asking for more supports for students with extra needs.

The woman’s daughter, 13-year-old Mayelle, died in hospital last year after dealing with multiple medical conditions.

Thomas says when she met the minister this week to discuss negotiations with the teachers’ union, he asked her, “What do they want me to do? Give up my first-born child?”

Cockrill says he’s human and he knew he made a mistake the moment the words came out of his mouth.

Thomas said the minister’s comment was careless and he did not apologize to her during the meeting.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Mia Holowaychuk and The Canadian Press