In an unusual move that has fuelled tensions between Queen’s Park and school boards, Education Minister Laurel Broten sent a personal email to some 660 school trustees Friday urging them to sign deals with their local unions by Sept. 1 or face paying millions of dollars in extra wages from their boards’ coffers.
The personal pitch also warns trustees that Broten will go ahead with controversial plans regarding in-class testing and the hiring of supply teachers, whether or not boards agree.
“I just think the memo is so inappropriate and so inflammatory,” said Janet McDougald, longtime chair of the Peel District School Board, who said she has not received such correspondence from a minister in her 24 years as a trustee.
“I fail to understand why the government would think local school boards could negotiate something with their federations in three weeks that the ministry was unable to accomplish in five to six months.”
Broten’s letter tells each trustee how much their board will have to pay in wage hikes if they don’t pass a proposed deal that freezes all but new teachers where they are on the salary grid. The Toronto public board faces a cost of nearly $12.5 million; Peel nearly $9 million.
Broten spokesperson Paris Meilleur called the email “fairly unusual outreach” but said it was meant as “personal outreach, from elected person to elected person, (to say) there’s an opportunity to really step up and make a difference to the bottom line of the board” and to “protect education.”
The letter begins with a friendly “as an official directly elected by voters in your community, I know of the commitment and dedication you have to the students who attend your schools and to their parents … Together we have made Ontario’s school system one of the best in the world.”
The ministry has signed a deal with three unions and one school board, the Toronto Catholic board, whose 12 trustees are the only ones who were not sent the email. The deal includes a two-year wage freeze, fewer sick days and an end to sick-day payouts at retirement — clauses Broten said she sees as a blueprint for all deals.
However, trustees at the Halton District School Board have said they can’t get an agreement by the end of the month, and have negotiations scheduled August to November.
“It’s really unfortunate that it’s not everybody working together anymore — or it doesn’t feel that way,” said chair Don Vrooman. “She’s pushed the boards and the unions away from the dock.”
He said that forcing boards to accept a loss of control over diagnostic testing — giving teachers the power to decide which tests are used, when and how often — “certainly isn’t where boards want to go.”
Lori Lukinuk, of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said boards want to bargain with their union locals, fairly and in good faith.
“What we are having difficulty with is that she’s saying, ‘Go away and have discussions locally with union groups,’ but it really sounds like she’s saying ‘sign on the bottom line.’ That’s not really negotiating.”
Cost to each GTA board in wage hikes if no deal by Sept. 1
Toronto District School Board: $12,456,913
Peel District School Board: $8,989,313
Dufferin-Peel Catholic Board: $4,196,735
Halton District School Board: $3,592,871
Halton Catholic District Board: $1,621,873
York Region District School Board: $6,449,641
York Catholic District Board: $3,028,757
Durham District School Board: $3,445,186
Durham Catholic District Board: $832,503
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Louise Brown and Kristin Rushowy
The personal pitch also warns trustees that Broten will go ahead with controversial plans regarding in-class testing and the hiring of supply teachers, whether or not boards agree.
“I just think the memo is so inappropriate and so inflammatory,” said Janet McDougald, longtime chair of the Peel District School Board, who said she has not received such correspondence from a minister in her 24 years as a trustee.
“I fail to understand why the government would think local school boards could negotiate something with their federations in three weeks that the ministry was unable to accomplish in five to six months.”
Broten’s letter tells each trustee how much their board will have to pay in wage hikes if they don’t pass a proposed deal that freezes all but new teachers where they are on the salary grid. The Toronto public board faces a cost of nearly $12.5 million; Peel nearly $9 million.
Broten spokesperson Paris Meilleur called the email “fairly unusual outreach” but said it was meant as “personal outreach, from elected person to elected person, (to say) there’s an opportunity to really step up and make a difference to the bottom line of the board” and to “protect education.”
The letter begins with a friendly “as an official directly elected by voters in your community, I know of the commitment and dedication you have to the students who attend your schools and to their parents … Together we have made Ontario’s school system one of the best in the world.”
The ministry has signed a deal with three unions and one school board, the Toronto Catholic board, whose 12 trustees are the only ones who were not sent the email. The deal includes a two-year wage freeze, fewer sick days and an end to sick-day payouts at retirement — clauses Broten said she sees as a blueprint for all deals.
However, trustees at the Halton District School Board have said they can’t get an agreement by the end of the month, and have negotiations scheduled August to November.
“It’s really unfortunate that it’s not everybody working together anymore — or it doesn’t feel that way,” said chair Don Vrooman. “She’s pushed the boards and the unions away from the dock.”
He said that forcing boards to accept a loss of control over diagnostic testing — giving teachers the power to decide which tests are used, when and how often — “certainly isn’t where boards want to go.”
Lori Lukinuk, of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said boards want to bargain with their union locals, fairly and in good faith.
“What we are having difficulty with is that she’s saying, ‘Go away and have discussions locally with union groups,’ but it really sounds like she’s saying ‘sign on the bottom line.’ That’s not really negotiating.”
Cost to each GTA board in wage hikes if no deal by Sept. 1
Toronto District School Board: $12,456,913
Peel District School Board: $8,989,313
Dufferin-Peel Catholic Board: $4,196,735
Halton District School Board: $3,592,871
Halton Catholic District Board: $1,621,873
York Region District School Board: $6,449,641
York Catholic District Board: $3,028,757
Durham District School Board: $3,445,186
Durham Catholic District Board: $832,503
Source: the star
Author: Louise Brown and Kristin Rushowy
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