Board chair Chris Bolton said the longstanding 0.5 per cent surcharge on many jobs by outside trades will likely be on the chopping block when the union’s contract expires Aug. 31.
The payments — $2 million to Hazel’s council over the past 10 years in total — are deducted from wages paid to outside trades. Some of those trades say that to make up for the surcharge they inflate the price of their work, which in turn raises the cost to taxpayers.
The Star revealed the surcharge deal as part of its ongoing investigation into high costs of work done at the Toronto District School Board.
“Is the 0.5 per cent up for renegotiation? Certainly. It has caused some real concerns,” Bolton said in a recent interview. “It has been a surprise for many trustees.”
In the wake of the Star investigation, Bolton called a special trustees meeting for Wednesday night to get trustees to push forward plans on changes to the way the maintenance and construction department operates.
Trustee John Hastings raised the 0.5 per cent charge at the meeting. Calling in by phone, he said he had never previously seen “an asterisk or footnote” like this.
According to the contract that Hazel’s council has with the TDSB, every contractor hired to do work that Hazel’s group can’t do — such as designing and installing a school kitchen — must sign a document agreeing that the school board “shall deduct from monies otherwise due to the contractor.”
That refers to the 0.5 per cent surcharge.
Any changes to it, said Bolton, will require changes to the board’s contract with the trades council, expiring Aug. 31.
Likewise, further changes sought by trustees in how the facilities department operates — the installation of GPS tracking devices in TDSB vehicles by the end of the year to stop workers from goofing off, and the rescheduling of working hours so that morning and afternoon shifts don’t overlap — will require changes to the contract.
Trustees are not part of contract negotiations — this are carried out by school board managers and its lawyer — but trustees can give direction if a majority agrees on specific changes, Bolton said.
“Given the conversation that has been going on so far, I would expect that the 0.5 per cent would be one of the main discussion points,” he said.
In an email response to Star questions, Hazel said, “Management and the Council can put any matter on the table when collective bargaining commences.”
The trades council negotiates contract deals for the 900 maintenance and construction workers directly employed by the school board.
Hazel has previously referred to the 0.5 per cent surcharge as union “dues.” He said the trades council needs the money because it acts as a representative of all workers, including those employed by outside contractors. The dues help pay for that representation, he said.
An ongoing Star investigation has found sky-high charges by Hazel’s trades council workers for small jobs, including almost $3,000 to install a simple electrical outlet in a high school library. The Star has also reported on the close connections between the trades council, some trustees and provincial Liberal politicians. Workers are told to campaign for key politicians; they risk losing their jobs if they refuse.
On another issue, trustee Chris Glover wanted to know more information about the “professional development” money that the trades council received from the province.
Citing Star stories, which described how $253,000 in TigerDirect gift cards was doled to workers to help them increase their use of “information technology,” Glover asked how the board monitored the actual spending of the money at the electronics retailer.
He was told that the board has no ability to monitor how the workers spent the money — whether on cameras and DVDs. A board human resources manager said that under an agreement between the trades and the province there was a requirement that the money go directly to the union.
Trustee Sheila Carey-Meagher said Wednesday that school board management has yet to be held accountable for the problems detailed in the Star stories.
“No workers can go this far amok unless management is not doing its job,” she said.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Moira Welsh and Kevin Donovan
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