Sask. teachers to lift work-to-rule as they head back to the bargaining table next week

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) says teachers across the province will suspend all job action, with plans now in place to head back to the bargaining table with the provincial government.

Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill confirmed at a news conference in Saskatoon Friday morning that negotiations will resume next week.

"We'll see them at the bargaining table," Cockrill said. "Everyone at this province wants to come to an agreement."

Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation president Samantha Becotte said during a news conference Friday that things changed very quickly.

She confirmed that teachers will stand down on job action at midnight as an act of good faith and that teachers won't take further job action as long as talks are being held.

Negotiations are scheduled to start on Tuesday.

"We're ready to work throughout the day," said Becotte. "I hope these are 12-hour days. I hope we're getting down to the conversations that need to be had so that we can get to a resolution as soon as possible."

Becotte said she wants to offer certainty to guardians and students in the months and weeks ahead.

Cockrill said the school year could be extended, depending on how bargaining goes.

Sticking point addressed: STF president

Becotte confirmed Friday that the government's negotiating team presented an offer to come back to the bargaining table, adding that the province has given their negotiators a new mandate.

At the end of March, the province proposed a memorandum of understanding to the STF that laid out an accountability framework meant to ensure proposed education funding would go to benefiting students. But negotiations fell apart earlier this month after the province declined to add the following phrase to the memorandum:

"The parties agree that the Multi-Year Funding Agreement and the accountability framework will be followed and honoured."

On Friday, Becotte declined to provide specifics on how the STF's previous concerns are set to be addressed. She said the language is still being worked on.

"We have seen a willingness to ensure that there is language that provides those guarantees and provides better assurances around supporting students in their classrooms and around accountability," Becotte said.

As part of this year's budget, the Ministry of Education dedicated $356.6 million in annual funding to addressing classroom supports, an increase of $45 million from last year's budget. The funding beyond this fiscal year is subject to appropriation, meaning it could be removed during a future budget.

Teachers have been operating under work-to-rule job action since Monday.

That means no voluntary services being provided by teachers, no lunch supervision, and teachers beginning their shift 15 minutes before the first bell rings and ending 15 minutes after the last. The end to voluntary services means no sports, drama, music, band, science clubs, intramurals, rehearsals, student leadership activities, planning for graduation celebrations, books fairs, and other clubs and activities.

Teachers began job action in mid-January with one-day provincewide strikes, followed by a series of rotating strikes and withdrawals of voluntary duties.