Saskatchewan teachers hope to be back at bargaining table with government next week
CBC
Saskatchewan teachers could return to the bargaining table as early as next week to work out their labour dispute with the province.
Samantha Becotte, president of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, told reporters Thursday she's encouraged by a draft memorandum of understanding from the government.
The document promises teachers a voice in how school divisions allocate funding. It includes a reporting mechanism to track how dollars are being spent.
Becotte said the union plans to work over the weekend so it can resume bargaining with the government next week.
"Talking about the need for teacher voices to be included in the decision-making process, that is important to have," she said.
"It's not ideal, it's not a perfect solution, but it is a step forward and something that we'll be able to build on in future years and future rounds of negotiation."
Trevor Schiller is the parent of 17-year-old Jorja Price who goes to Bethlehem Catholic High School. Price could not go on her school trip because of STF job action.
He said that this was the last chance for his daughter to go on a trip with her classmates, and that a lot of the kids had been working and saving up for over a year for the trip.
"My child was in tears. My child was devastated, frustrated. We were all very upset," Schiller said.
He said many other schools that registered through a different provider or through individual's names as opposed to school names were able to go.
Schiller said his focus now is graduation ceremony.
"It's a once in a lifetime thing that you're going to participate in. Our oldest daughter missed grad because of COVID. Jorja missed Grade 8 grad because of COVID. I'm going to monitor everything very closely and do everything that I can and speak up as much as I can to make sure that grad happens," he said.
He said he's planning to take a much more aggressive approach, wether it's getting involved as a parent and planning ahead or getting exemptions for teachers.
"Obviously we don't want to miss another grad, and I think most parents are willing to step up to the plate and do whatever they have to do to take things over in order to to make sure that the kids can experience this," Schiller said.