Arbitration for Sask. teachers, province scheduled for December

The long-running contract dispute between the Saskatchewangovernment and the province's teachers is headed to arbitrationin December.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation announced Thursday afternoon that its binding arbitration hearing with the provincial government is scheduled totake place Dec. 16 to 20 in Saskatoon.

The two sides will provide written submissionsand make presentations on wages and a class complexity-accountability framework.

Daniel Ish, a former University of Saskatchewan law professor and dean of the college of law, will serve as arbitrator. The teacher and government bargaining committees previously named Dawn Harkness and Greg Chatlain, respectively, as their nominees for the panel.

The panel will weigh the submissions and the arbitrator's decision will be delivered in the form of a legally binding written report.

In the Thursday news release, STF said the decisionwill become part of the final collective bargaining agreement.

"We are pleased that binding arbitration continues to move toward reaching an agreement that will bring predictability to students, families, and staff," Jeremy Cockrill, Saskatchewan's education minister, said Thursday afternoon in an emailed statement.

Teachers have been without a contract since August 2023.

After negotiations on a new collective agreement reached a standstill, teachers imposed sanctionsincluding rotating strikes starting in January. That ledto a contract offer that was rejected by teachers in May. A second offer was rejected later that month.

In June, teachers took more job action, engaging in work-to-rule by withdrawing from voluntary services and noon-hour supervision.