© Matt Smith Saskatchewan Education Minister Gord Wyant

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Weeks after Saskatchewan teachers voted in favour of job action amid a dispute over wages and classroom resources , their bargaining committee and the province have reached a tentative agreement — one that does not include a mechanism for addressing classroom size and composition.

The tentative deal announced Wednesday includes a zero per cent wage increase for 2019 followed by three consecutive two per cent raises. Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation president Patrick Maze said classroom composition issues will be dealt with away from the bargaining table.

“It’s definitely not perfect, and it’s definitely not what the Teachers’ Federation was looking for,” Maze said on Wednesday, adding that the issue will instead be addressed through a restructured committee that includes more educators as well as the deans of both education colleges in the province.

The Saskatchewan Teacher's Federation is bringing in a 24-hour support hotline for members amid reports of high levels of burnout.

Education Minister Gordon Wyant, in a statement issued as teachers continue to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, said the “tentative agreement balances our respect and appreciation for teachers with the fiscal realities of the province.”

While both sides agreed teachers are lacking resources to manage classrooms with increasingly high student needs, they were divided about how to deal with it. The STF wanted a mechanism for ensuring appropriate resources in its collective agreement, while the government favoured an outside process.

Asked why teachers, who voted 90.2 per cent in favour of job action when talks stalled earlier this year, will endorse a tentative agreement that excludes a solution for classroom composition issues, Maze said the landscape has shifted significantly. Classroom size and composition was a key issue in the months-long bargaining process that broke down earlier this year.

“Ultimately, it’s a tentative deal. We’ve been going back and forth with government, and really haven’t gotten very far. But at this point (during the pandemic and shrinking ministry resources) we felt this was a deal we should put in front of members,” Maze said.

The STF president has said previously that teachers will not be “bought off on the issue.”

Maze noted that the initial sanctions announced March 10 — which included no extracurricular activities and little time in schools outside the school day — are “virtually useless” during the pandemic, which forced all schools in the province to close .

“Ultimately, if they don’t feel class composition is going to be dealt with effectively through that committee and they don’t feel there’s enough in the collective agreement, then we go back to the bargaining table,” Maze said.

The province’s 13,500 teachers are expected to begin voting electronically in the next few weeks.

The tentative agreement comes after months of sparring between the STF and the provincial government. Both Maze and Wyant have previously expressed frustration with the process while refusing to budge from their positions on classroom composition.