“(The trades council members) are major contributors to the Liberals,” noted TDSB chair Chris Bolton in an interview with the Star. Having angered teachers with recent legislation, Bolton, a New Democrat, and others at the board speculate that the Liberals are trying to shore up support from other organized labour groups in the province as they prepare for an election.
An ongoing Star investigation has shown that members of Jimmy Hazel’s 900-strong Maintenance and Construction Skilled Trades Council — which represents plumbers, electricians, carpenters, groundskeepers, painters and general labourers — have campaigned for the Liberals, delivering election pamphlets door to door. Political donations to the Liberals from Hazel’s group and related unions who work for the school board total at least $675,000 since 2005. The Liberals responded one year by providing $253,000 of gift cards for Hazel’s TDSB workers, redeemable at Tiger Direct.
Over the last two weeks, Hazel’s trades council sent two stiffly-worded letters to education minister Laurel Broten asking her to step in and preserve its old contract with Toronto’s public school board.
The solution put forward in the letters mirrors what Broten imposed on the Toronto District School Board on Thursday.
Hazel has not responded to requests for an interview and the law firm representing the council deferred questions to Hazel. Neala Barton, spokesperson for the premier's office, said the TDSB was not treated any differently than other public school boards.
“As the Minister of Education’s office will tell you, this newly-introduced agreement has no bearing on the board’s ability to control spending or to work with the union to manage the cost of some types of maintenance and repairs,” Barton said.
Meanwhile, a Liberal government spokesperson, who asked for anonymity, said Broten's decision had “nothing to do with politics.”
Two letters sent by the lawyer for the trades council in late December tell Broten that the school board’s attempt to contract out some jobs and drop a controversial payment that went to trades council coffers will have a “deleterious impact” on workers represented by the council — plumbers, electricians, carpenters, groundskeepers, painters and general labourers.
The letters from trades council lawyer Alan Minsky request “an order forthwith imposing a rollover or renewal” of the expired collective agreement between the TDSB and the trades council.
At issue, according to the TDSB, is its attempt to modernize decades old agreements that a recent provincially sponsored audit sought to change. At the school board’s Yonge St. headquarters in North York on Friday, senior officials were scratching their heads at Broten’s move. When Broten sent in consultants last fall, at a cost to taxpayers of about $250,000, and a special assistance team at about $1,200 a day, TDSB bosses were sure they would have the government’s backing in altering terms of the contract with Hazel’s group. Bolton said changes need to be made to cut maintenance and construction costs at the cash-starved board.
Instead, Broten moved Thursday to extend the expired contract until August 2014.
Bolton said this prevents his managers from implementing changes the consultants supported.
Among the contract terms that Broten’s move allows Hazel’s group to maintain:
• The TDSB will not be allowed to hire outside workers for some jobs, even if it would cost taxpayers less. The council’s letters to Broten said this and the board’s attempt to remove a controversial payment that supports the council’s operations was a “draconian position” that must be prevented.
• The trades council is still allowed to choose all new workers for the publicly funded school board. The TDSB, which pays the workers, wanted to have a say. Some workers who have sought jobs at the board have complained to the Star that there is a great deal of nepotism, with numerous members of one family sometimes being employed.
• An oddly structured shift system will be preserved, requiring the TDSB to maintain a huge fleet of vehicles. The TDSB estimated it could have sold off up to 300 trucks and other vehicles that would not be needed if the afternoon shift started when the morning shift ended, instead of overlapping.
“We now wonder what was the point of the Pricewaterhouse consultants coming in for six months,” said Bolton. “What is the point of the special assistance team from the province working with us when the changes that were backed by the province have in effect been nullified.”
The Star’s investigation began last year with stories of high costs, including $3,000 to install a wall plug in a library and $143 to screw in a pencil sharpener in a classroom.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Kevin Donovan
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