SUPPORTING OUR TEACHERS

We have all seen many posts, and opinions in the past month about the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) dispute with The Sask Party. As outsiders of the current classroom, it is fair to say we do not know what's happening. Year after year, our education system is proving that it is not sufficient for the future of all children. I will do my very best to voice the reasons why the current situation is NOT acceptable in the hope that you will help remind our government that students in Saskatchewan deserve better!

For those of you who don't know me, I have two great boys, Taylor and Cooper who are currently in our education system. I am very grateful that thus far, both have been well supported in their schools and community. My wife, Kelsey, teaches grades 2/3 in downtown Regina at Thomson Community School, which is a very different dynamic than that of the schools my boys attend. Like many schools in Saskatchewan, Kelsey and her colleagues deal with a wide range of challenges in the classroom that I feel a lot of us are not aware of. Some of the challenges that end up at our dinner table discussions include a lack of answers and resources for students with high needs, insufficient support staff such as Speech and Language Pathologists, English as Additional Language teachers and counsellors, there is increased violence, the fallout from Covid and increased mental health struggles. Kelsey and her colleagues are also dealing with students who may have reoccurring trauma, family members with addictions, and the stress of sending a student home to potential hardships. These challenges are difficult for many of us to comprehend because we are fortunate to have come from supportive and privileged communities. The unfortunate reality is that Saskatchewan does have many underprivileged homes and communities and our schools need more funding to support these challenges to ensure that we are raising strong contributing members of society into the future.

Here is a recap of how our education system has ended up where it currently is. Over the last 5 years, Saskatchewan’s per-student funding has dropped by 10% having Saskatchewan go from 1st to 8th in Canada. Saskatchewan school divisions have mandated teacher-to-student ratios and because of the lack of funding, school divisions have had to cut other services like speech, psychologists, counsellors, EAL teachers, bussing, etc. "The Saskatchewan Party wants school divisions to manage their own budgets but in 2009 the Saskatchewan government removed the ability for divisions to set their individual tax mill rates. All education funding goes into general revenue and the government hands it out from there. So, they underfund the divisions and then blame the divisions for being underfunded." - @steve_boots (Boots on the Ground on TikTok). In 2016, the Saskatchewan Party only funded half of a previously negotiated raise for teachers and told divisions they would have to come up with the other half. This is a slippery slope for divisions to keep having to work with and most divisions have had to be creative with where to find the money.

In closing, I would like us to rewind our clocks for a moment to four years ago when we were up against the world and trying to convince the public that what we wanted was fair and just for the betterment of our province. Daily, I'm reminded at work and in my home life that people never seem to want each other to have good/fair things if we all don't have them, such as set hours of work, proper support and benefits and of course fair wages. Let us all take positive steps forward and want good things for our children and for those teachers that we all know in our lives like we tried to ask for in 2019.

In Solidarity,

Jamie Wolf, PDD VP

KNOW YOUR CBA

For this month's article, we thought it would be prudent to combine the regular CSS Corner grievance-related content with the just-as-popular, "Know Your CBA" series and outline Article 14 - Grievance Procedure for the membership. We're always talking about grievances, settlements and awards but let's take a moment to examine how a grievance arises and then flows through the steps outlined in the collective agreement. 

The entirety of Article 14 is quite long, so we'll only look at the first three steps this month.

The first paragraph reads:

1. An employee who believes there has been a violation of the Collective Agreement must take up his complaint with his Shop Steward or a member of the Grievance Committee. If the Shop Steward or member of the Union Grievance Committee feels that the complaint is justified, following discussion jointly with Shop Steward, employee and his immediate supervisor, the matter then becomes a grievance and under the Agreement must be dealt with on Co-operative time. Union officials shall not forego proper grievance procedure nor direct the working force in the performance of duties required of their positions.

There are a few things to unpack, but the three key takeaways are:

• If you feel like the Company violated the collective agreement it is important to talk to your Shop Steward or someone from the Grievance Committee (CSS, Area VP and President) immediately.
• The first action is to always try to resolve the issue at the 'lowest level', usually the immediate supervisor/manager for the area.
• The last sentence refers to the doctrine of "work now, grieve later" which means if you are directed by a supervisor to do something you think is a violation of the collective agreement (ex, work on your RDO for straight-time pay), then you should work the shift and later discuss with your Shop Steward about filing a grievance. Back pay can always be applied after the fact. The exception to this rule is when safety is a factor.

The Grievance procedure continues:

2. Grievances shall be dealt with as follows:

Step 1

All grievances shall be dealt with through the Shop Steward of the department concerned and/or a member of the Grievance Committee, and submitted in writing after consultation with the Grievance Committee Chairperson within twenty-one (21) calendar days of the event giving rise to such complaint to the department head who must render a decision within twenty-one (21) calendar days. The Company and the Union may, by mutual agreement, schedule a meeting within 14 calendar days after the grievance is received by the Company. It is agreed that when a grievance involving a discharge or termination is submitted, the grievance shall proceed directly to Step 2.

This paragraph outlines timelines for the first step of the grievance procedure by the three highlights:

• The Union only has twenty-one days to file a grievance from the day the incident took place. This timeline is normally extended in good faith if the parties are communicating and trying to resolve the grievance at the lower level with a formal grievance.
• A Step 1 meeting is not mandatory, but it is useful. It's typical at these meetings for both sides to lay out the facts as both parties understand them and fill in any blanks or missing information to gain a better comprehension of the issues at hand.
• When it's a termination grievance, Step 1 is skipped and proceeds directly to Step 2. This is because both parties recognize the significance or impact of a termination and the need to expedite the matter.