Ontario government gives teacher unions ultimatum
August 21, 2008
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Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
The Ontario government has given teachers' unions until Nov. 30 to sign contracts if they hope to qualify for a 3 per cent raise for each of the next four years – otherwise it will provide funding for only 2 per cent more for each of two years.
It is an ultimatum the high school teachers' union said today may not be legal.
In an unusual memo sent to school boards this week, the ministry of education slapped a time limit on its offer of a yearly 3 per cent hike for boards and unions who sign a four-year deal – a deal the province's Catholic and French-language teachers' unions already have embraced.
But with no real bargaining underway between public school boards and their teachers – both elementary and high school teachers' unions have walked away from the provincial "discussion table" – the new deadline adds a pressure that is not helpful, said Ken Coran, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, in a speech today in Toronto to more than 300 teachers.
"This kind of imposed deadline clearly violates the principles of free collective bargaining," he said, "and we will leave no stone unturned to see what the legal implications are."
The Ontario government controls the purse-strings of education and determines how much money it will give school boards for employee raises, so it has begun virtually bargaining provincially with teachers through what it calls "provincial discussion tables" with school boards and their unions.
While some teachers' unions have signed the new four-year "framework agreements" offered by the province, the high school teachers have refused to take part until the province guarantees local school boards will still bargain some issues locally. He says many school boards are refusing to meet with their unions, waiting instead for the province to draft a deal with their teachers.
Similarly, the elementary teachers' unions has refused to take part until the province pledges to give them as much funding and prep time as it gives high school teachers.
Given this standoff, the new deadline has put pressure on both school boards and teachers, said Coran – but he declined to threaten a teachers' strike.
"We do not issue idle threats, nor do we heat our members up unnecessarily," said Coran, "but we will be monitoring school boards over the next three weeks to see if they show signs of being willing to start bargaining some issues locally."
If not, they will begin the usual steps of bargaining - including conciliation and strike votes.
But Coran said his union would consider returning to provincial talks if the ministry of education allowed school boards the flexibility to bargain some contract issues locally - and urge them to do so.
A ministry spokesperson said the deadline is designed to help school boards be able to plan ahead.