Letter to the Editor Teacher’ Working Conditions and Student’s Learning Conditions
I recently read a Letter to the Editor in the Guelph Tribune that characterized members of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario as privileged, spoiled brats who the public may need to use necessary discipline on. The writers venom was based on the misconception that the current work to rule is about teacher’s wanting an increase in pay.
In over twenty years of teaching, there has not been a time when the main concern of myself or my colleagues was salary. This was true when I went without pay to participate in a political protest about changes to education through Bill 160. It was true during the years when my family lost potential income due to teacher salaries being frozen on the experience grid. It has also been true during the past and recent years when I was forced to take unpaid days.
As an ETFO member I can tell you that the current negotiations between the Ontario Government (in the form of the Ministry of Education) and the Elementary Teachers of Ontario are centred on teacher concerns around Class Size and Planning Time. The government is trying to insert language into the current contract that would give them the power to increase Class Sizes and take control over how teachers use their Planning Time without future negotiations.
In a recent speech a retiring teacher, she spoke about her early years when she had primary classes of thirty students or more and received no planning time. It has taken the last two decades for teachers to negotiate primary classes of approximately 20 and to gain the right to planning time. We still have classes of 30 or more in the Junior grades and JK/K classes of 30.
Over the last decade there has been increasing unrest during teacher contract negotiations. This has resulted from a change in the negotiation process. We have moved from a single tier process with the local branch of the teacher’s federation negotiating with the local board, to a two tier process where the provincial level of the federations must negotiate at a Central Table with the Provincial government before the local branches negotiate with their board. The result has been a negotiation process that is more of a non-negotiation process. When one side of the process (namely the provincial government) has the power to legislate what they want, there is little reason for them to come to a mutually agreed upon solution without disruption of services. Although Kathleen Wynne has acknowledged that there is a problem with the current bargaining process, she has only agreed to review the process after this current set of negotiations is completed.
To those members of the public who think that Elementary Teachers are focused on dollar signs,
I would point out that Elementary Teachers were paid lower salaries than the rest of Ontario’s teachers
during our last contract period. During those negotiations, the government laid down a take it or leave ultimatum. The Elementary teachers chose to hold fast and literally paid the price.
Once again we are holding fast to protect the needs of our students. Yes, the Ontario Government will be able to make up for budgetary shortfalls and finical mismanagement if they raise class size. Higher class size means fewer teachers and a government that can brag about cost savings. However, if you have spent time in an Elementary school lately you know that Class Size effects the quality of education received by students and that a teacher’s right to control how they use their Planning time effects their ability to plan for the needs of their students.
During the first phase of this Work to Rule, Elementary teachers chose to remove services that would effect the Ministry, as our disagreement is with the Ministry, not our boards and not our students. We did not walk out of our schools (although we could have as part of the Work to Rule process). We did not stop Field Trips or Extracurricular Activities. Believe it or not, elementary teachers agonize over doing anything that will effect “their kids”.
Unfortunately, the Ontario government can assure a win for themselves, by forcing teachers to increase their withdrawal of services, allowing the public to think this is about salaries and using legislative power and public pressure to take what they want. So where do we go from here. We need to protect the quality of education for our students and there is a proscribed process that we are allowed to use to do so. I write this letter with the hope that if the public understands what is going on, they may decide to stand with teachers instead of against them and tell the Provincial government that enough is enough. It is time to bargain if good faith so that September can be a time of mutual triumph instead of mutual distrust.
Joanne Mitchell
Joanne Mitchell