Former ECS educator Colin Keess is challenging the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation executive team to a showdown in the court room.
Keess, who was recently re-elected president of the STF — the group that represents most of Saskatchewan’s teachers— was ousted from that role in August of this year by the STF executive body.
Citing only that Keess had “breached confidence, and breached the principles of executive conduct,” a charge he denies. The executive members stripped Keess of his executive powers, installing vice-president Randy Cline into the primary role.
In an interview with The Mercury this summer, Keess said the so-called breaches of conduct or confidence had nothing to do with any actions outside his role as president.
He is now stating that his planned evaluation of the job(s), being performed by STF’s executive director, Gwen Dueck, triggered the reaction by the executive committee.
Keess told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix he had drafted a letter reprimanding Dueck that he had intended to deliver to her, but that was cut short by the board’s Aug. 1 motion that effectively stripped him of his authority.
Keess and his legal representative have filed an affidavit with the Court of Queen’s Bench saying the STF executive acted outside of its jurisdiction when it carried out that action and denied him an opportunity to speak to the issues.
The STF has not issued any further statement, other than to note their responses related to the specifics of the alleged breaches will be filed with the court on Nov. 10 when the case is expected to be heard.
In filing his case on Oct. 10, Keess maintained the STF president can only be removed by the body that elected him, the federation’s provincial council, not the executive board. He also claims due process was not followed since he was denied a hearing prior to the sanctions being imposed, and he was also denied access to counsel at a requested meeting after the sanctions were in place. He said he was also penalized for requesting due process to be placed on the agenda at a board meeting following the sanctions.
Keess, through his lawyer, said he had attempted to deal with the matter outside the court but the executive was not willing to co-operate on that matter, which left him with this alternative.
The application was set to be heard this week with an adjournment likely to be imposed to the end of November.
Keess was serving his second term as the STF’s elected president when the issue of the alleged breach of confidence and principles arose.
The activities at the executive level coincided with two failed attempts by assigned negotiators to sign a new collective contract agreement with teachers who voted against proposed plans by margins of over 70 per cent on the first offering and over 62 per cent on the second round. At the time, Keess and others were citing a significant disconnect between the membership and the executive body and negotiators. No new negotiations have taken place since.
Keess had faced a disciplinary hearing of the STF several years ago while engaged as a principal and educator at the Estevan Comprehensive School. None of the issues that he faced then, however, appear to have any relationship with this latest confrontation with the federation’s executive body.
