Announcements

2023 PSTA Student Scholarship Recipients

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This year the PSTA received 12 applications for the 2023 PSTA Scholarship. Three scholarships of $1,000 were available to all Prairie Spirit students graduating in 2023 who have enrolled in any post-secondary institution and the Cindy Clarke Memorial Scholarship of $1,000.00 is available to a Prairie Spirit student graduating in 2023, who has enrolled in a post-secondary institution in a Bachelor of Education program. Four of the twelve applicants were eligible for the Cindy Clarke Memorial Scholarship.

The PSTA Student Scholarship Committee chose Bazil Perry of Martensville High School, Ruby-Jean Schmidt of Aberdeen Composite School and Harper Doige of Aberdeen Composite School to each receive a $1000 scholarship to help toward the cost of their post-secondary education.

Lauryn Moyer of Martensville High School is the winner of the Cindy Clarke Memorial Scholarship for a Prairie Spirit graduate entering a Bachelor of Education program.

We wish all of you the best in your future education endeavors!

April 29, 2023 Rally for Public Education

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I want to take a moment to thank all the School Staff Liaisons that connected with their staff to express how important it was to participate in the Rally for Public Education on April 29. Your efforts are recognized and greatly appreciated as you are a significant reason we saw more than 200 PSTA members and their family drive 5 hours on a Saturday to #MakeNoise4Ed.

It felt so energizing to be in a crowd of families and teachers gathered to share a unified message that we care and want a properly funded public education system for our kids.

The Rally for Public Education is just the beginning and I believe we are seeing a growing movement of people concerned about cuts to our children’s education.

We need to keep up momentum and there are many ways you can help.

What you can do:

Negotiation Information

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Our Provincial Collective Bargaining Agreement (2019-2023) is set to expire on August 31, 2023 so the STF Provincial Bargaining Team has been working hard for months planning and gathering the voice of teachers. There will be many opportunities for members to participate and support the work of our negotiation team. This post will be pinned to the top of the website and act as a information hub for PSTA members so please share this link and refer back as this page will be updated as more information is made available.

Links:

Resources and Videos:

Events:

Update Your Information for Provincial Collective Bargaining
Has your contact information changed? Ensure your details are up to date to receive important information on provincial collective bargaining. To update or validate your information, please log in to MySTF. You can also fill out a Change of Information Form or call us at 306-373-1660 or toll-free at 1-800-667-7762 to update over the phone.

Green Shield Canada Transition Information

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All Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation members switched to a new benefits provider on Jan 1, 2023. This move to Green Shield Canada will reduce administrative costs, but your benefits negotiated in our provincial contract benefits will remain the same.

Some members have shared concerns about changes to the plan including requiring a prescription from your doctor to access massage benefits.
This is a requirement of other plans, but as an STF member, nothing has changed and a prescription is not required.

If you are trying to coordinate your benefits with another Green Shield Canada plan, you will not be able to complete your claim. Green Shield Canada is aware of this issue and is working to address the problem. For now, you will need to choose no when asked if you want to submit any unpaid amount to the other plan. After finalizing your claim, the claim can be entered on the secondary benefits plan and you would enter the amount already claimed by the first plan.

If you are having trouble registering or submitting claims, please contact Green Shield Canada at 1-888-711-1119.

New Health and Dental Plan Provider for STF Members

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The STF reviews health benefit providers every five years and feedback from STF members showed teachers were unhappy with the experience with our current provider and frustrated with having to manage separate accounts for health and dental.

Starting January 1, 2023, Green Shield Canada will be the new insurance carrier for teachers’ health and dental benefits. This change will lead to significant savings on administrative costs due to increased efficiency and economy of scale, but your health and dental benefits will not change as a result of this move.

Please continue to promptly submit claims to Canada Life (health) and Sun Life (dental) as usual until that time.

The STF will be hosting a Q&A with Green Shield Canada on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. You can register for this zoom meeting on the STF registration page here.

Find more information and updates regarding this transition from Canada Life and/Sun Life to Green Shield Canada as our health and dental care provider on the STF Website.

What This Means for You:

  • All your benefits in from one provider
  • Faster Claim turnaround time
  • Improved customer service
  • Convenient digital tools

Though Canada Life and Sun Life are being replaced with a common provider in Green Shield Canada, the STF and the TSC (Teacher’s Superannuation Commission) will maintain their oversight over their respective plans and plan designs. So questions regarding health benefits should still be directed to the STF, while questions regarding dental benefits should be directed to the TSC.

STF Council Passes Resolution to Prevent “Double Dipping” for LEADS and STF Staff

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On Friday, October 28, councillors voted in favour of the following resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED that beginning July 1, 2023, the STRP Plan Text be amended to prohibit LEADS and STF staff positions from collecting a monthly pension from the STRP during periods of re-employment as LEADS and STF staff, and to require that those members suspend their monthly pension and re-enroll as regular contributors to the STRP for the duration of their re-employment as LEADS or STF staff members.

Double dipping for a short period of time (i.e., six months), does not have a significant cost to the plan, however, some school boards have used this flexibility as a recruitment and retention tool at the expense of the plan. In some cases, we have members double dip in excess of eight years, usually in senior positions, which has had a significant cost to the plan. STRP has approximately 175 to 200 members double-dipping annually, including 12 LEADS and Federation staff members.

This change does not apply to teachers who give early notice of superannuation and are able to retire and collect pension for a defined period of time. The change only applies to LEADS and STF staff members.

Provincial Collective Bargaining Information

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The STF website has a page for members to access all of the current information and engagement opportunities related to Provincial Collective Bargaining at https://www.stf.sk.ca/teaching-saskatchewan/collective-bargaining.

There are three opportunities to participate in the Virtual Town Halls:

  • November 7 at 4 p.m.
  • November 9 at 7 p.m.
  • November 15 at 8 p.m.

The STF is hosting virtual town halls on Zoom and inviting teachers to attend one of the three meetings. This is a great opportunity to engage in discussion with the provincial bargaining preparation team and help identify member priorities and needs for the upcoming round of bargaining in May 2023.

You can find more information and links to register for the Virtual Town hall meetings at https://www.stf.sk.ca/professional-resources/events-calendar/bargaining-virtual-town-hall

Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave Details

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As a PSTA member you have access to three days with pay per year for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave. This leave can be accessed for responding to events requiring an immediate response which are outside the control of the teacher including road closure, natural disasters, accident, home emergency or community emergency service.

Now that winter weather is approaching, the following information is being sent to you as a reminder of Prairie Spirit’s practice regarding “Pressing Necessity/Emergency” leave which includes staff absenteeism due to inclement weather.

In the event of inclement weather, you are expected to make every effort to safely arrive at work by taking an alternate route, waiting for the plow or waiting for conditions to improve, etc.  If weather conditions will impact your safe arrival at work, please contact your in-school administrator or immediate supervisor as soon as possible to let them know of your situation. 

If you are unable to get from your home to work due to bad weather, the usual options are in place for staff including access to personal days with pay, days without pay, or vacation days (for 12 month support staff).

In your local agreement/handbook, there are provisions for three days per year for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.  When there is an official RCMP road closure impacting your ability to get to work, staff may access the “Pressing Necessity/Emergency” conditions of our local agreements and be absent from work with pay.  Any public grid or secondary road that is impassable meets the requirements for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.  Please note that a “snowed in” vehicle or blocked driveway does not qualify for Pressing Necessity/Emergency Leave.

Examples of an impassable public grid or secondary road are:

  • a significant snow drift blocking the road
  • a washed-out road
  • RCMP road closure

Please note that flight delays do not fit the criteria of a pressing necessity. 

Emailed to all PSTA members October 25, 2022

More information regarding Pressing Necessities can be found in Section 12.11 of our LINC Agreement.

12.11.1 Pressing Necessities leave with pay shall be granted to a teacher for the purposes of responding to an event outside the control of the teacher if this unexpected event requires an immediate response so as to ensure the safety of family, community members and/or property.

12.11.2 A teacher shall be granted up to a maximum of three (3) days annually with pay to attend to a pressing necessity.

12.11.3 Examples of a pressing necessity include, but are not limited to, the following:
a. Road closure
b. Natural Disaster
c. Accident
d. Home emergency
e. Community Emergency Service

12.11.4 Reasons for the need of a pressing necessity day shall be given to the administrator/supervisor.

LINC Agreement: Section 12.11

PSTA STF Councillor Election Results

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Between Thursday, September 29 and Monday, October 3, 83% of PSTA School Staff Liaisons used an electronic ballot through Election Runner to vote for the 2 vacant STF Councillor positions.

On behalf of Jason Brose, PSTA Elections Officer, thank you to Amanda Nelson, Chad Williams and Amy Orth for submitting a nomination forms and participating in the elections process.

Please join us in welcoming our new PSTA Executive members, Amanda Nelson and Amy Orth.

PSTA STF Councillor Nominees

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Three PSTA members have submitted nomination forms for the two vacant STF Councillor positions.

School Staff Liaisons will vote using an electronic ballot between 8:00am on Thursday, September 29, 2022 and close at 4:00pm on Monday, October 3, 2022.

The PSTA President will announce the results of the election Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

STF Councillor Nominees:

PSTA Policies and Guidelines – Section 2 Election Procedures:

  • 2.10.4 For executive offices or standing committees that consist of more than one position, members shall cast one vote for each position open. Ballots with votes less than the full number of open positions shall be declared invalid.
  • 2.10.8 The President shall announce the results of the vote.