As life at Catholic and francophone schools rolls merrily along, the labour peace Premier Dalton McGuinty worked so hard to establish and maintain during his nine years in power remains elusive in hundreds of public schools across Ontario.
That point will be driven home Wednesday, in the outgoing premier’s own backyard, when several thousand elementary school teachers stage a walkout, forcing schools to close for one day and leaving parents in the lurch.
Meanwhile, the union that represents high school teachers, secretaries, custodians and other education professionals has suspended talks with the government due to what it calls unwelcome interference on the part of Education Minister Laurel Broten.
The heated labour battle is set against a legislative backdrop that gives school boards and unions until Dec. 31 to reach local agreements that must include specific parameters around pay and benefits that are modelled after a deal reached in the summer between the government and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.
The Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), the union that represents all teachers in the French-language school system, later signed a similar agreement.
The remaining unions accuse the government of trampling on their democratic rights to collectively bargain and scrapping sick leave and other benefits that were won in previous rounds of negotiation.
The government says it is making difficult choices to protect full-day kindergarten and smaller class sizes while dealing with a $14.4-billion provincial deficit.
With the clock ticking and both sides appearing immovable, the only probable outcome as of Jan. 1 is for the government to impose a contract and live with the fallout.
“At the end of the day, there will be very little choice left for the minister,” says Yasir Naqvi, the Liberal MPP for Ottawa Centre.
While he’s confident negotiated settlements will be reached by Dec. 31, Naqvi said the government shouldn’t sacrifice its successes in the school system to fund pay raises for teachers.
“Both cannot be done at the same time so we need to take one track and I’m hopeful that the track that we’ll pick means more investments in our classrooms and protecting jobs for the teachers,” he said.
Renewing her call for Broten to use the tools at her discretion, Progressive Conservative education critic Lisa MacLeod questioned whether the minister has the fortitude to take such strong action.
“She hasn’t displayed one ounce of strength,” the Nepean-Carleton MPP said. “She has the tools, she has the law, she has the ability but the question now becomes will she use it?”
Although his members will be picketing Wednesday at about 70 locations across the city — including the constituency offices of local Liberal and Tory MPPs, the president of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers’ Federation says negotiations with Ottawa’s public school board have been “collegial.”
But with the rigid fiscal parameters set by the government — which include a two-year wage freeze, a reduced number of sick days and the end of a long-standing practice of banking unused sick days — Peter Giuliani is not confident a deal can be reached.
And that means a new contract will be imposed.
“I think it’s likely based on how things are going,” he said. “The fact that they’re not showing any signs whatsoever of backing away from it and time is running out.”
Harvey Bischof, vice president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), said he couldn’t predict what the government will do once the deadline passes because it has been so unpredictable throughout the entire bargaining process.
“I’m having a hard time figuring out if they even have a game plan,” he said.
But if a contract is imposed, the OSSTF has been clear about how it will respond. “We will maintain the withdrawal of voluntary services until such time as we can negotiate freely an agreement that our members ratify,” Bischof said.
Having a contract imposed would be horrible for labour relations and morale, Giuliani said, adding it would not be business as usual at elementary schools from that point on.
Although the OSSTF and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board reached a tentative agreement on Nov. 22, the union later declared it “null and void” and accused Broten’s office of interfering after the fact — a charge the minister has denied. The union also cancelled a ratification vote.
OCDSB trustees passed a motion on Tuesday calling on the OSSTF to reschedule that ratification vote before Dec. 21, but Bischof said Sunday that won’t happen.
The union has also suspended all talks across the province as a result of Broten’s alleged interference, he said.
“Something will have to change from the government’s side for us to be able to make progress again.”
But that seems unlikely.
Naqvi said teachers’ unions have had “ample opportunity to negotiate” but instead walked away from the bargaining table.
“I am very disappointed they are choosing to put children and families in the middle of a dispute instead of sitting down and negotiating an agreement,” the MPP said.
He also dismissed a common criticism levelled by union members that Bill 115 bars teachers and education workers from striking, saying the fact the government is allowing the one-day strikes to proceed this week is proof union members still have the right to strike.
After nine years of stability, Naqvi he said he’s disappointed the latest round of contract negotiations with teachers has “gone south” so quickly.
“I don’t think it needed to be that way but that’s reality,” he said.
“Even if contracts are imposed beyond Dec. 31 in absence of any collective bargaining agreement, the government and teacher federations need to come together, find a better process for the future, figure out where we can patch the relationship and start working on it immediately.”
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Matthew Pearson
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