Teacher Negotiations
By Bob Mitchell
Disclosure – I am the husband of an ETFO member
The current negotiating difficulties between the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and their employers can be traced to a change in the way negotiations are conducted.
For decades, local branches of teacher’s organizations negotiated directly with local school boards (the employer) to achieve a contract. Occasionally, the government inserted itself into the process, usually with contentious results. The most notable example being the Conservatives of Mike Harris.
Almost 10 years ago the provincial government began to impose itself more directly in the negotiating process. First, in the form of “voluntary discussion panels” and more formally as the years went on. The current negotiation model is two tiered, with the major points of discussion such as salary, class size and working conditions being determined at the provincial table and local issues handled at the board level. The key aspects of teacher contracts are now negotiated at the provincial level with the provincial government (in the form of the Ministry of Education) and OPSBA ( the Ontario Public School Boards Association) negotiating with the provincial level of the teacher’s federations.
In 2012, the Ontario Liberal government passed the Putting Students First Act which curtailed the teachers’ right to strike and gave unprecedented powers to the Minister of Education. The act is under challenge in the courts. A recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada, on a Right to Strike challenge in Saskatchewan, suggests that the Ontario legislation will also be deemed unconstitutional.
The current negotiations between the Ontario Government and OPSBA with the Elementary Teachers of Ontario are centred, primarily, around concerns relating to class size and working conditions. The government is attempting to insert language into the current contract that would give school boards the power to increase class sizes and take more control over teacher preparation time, without any negotiating. One might ask why the high school teachers were able to agree to the governments terms but ETFO was not. The difference between the base contracts, preparation time and classroom teaching conditions of public high school teachers and public elementary teachers makes the concerns of ETFO and the now contracted high school teachers substantially different.
The negotiation process that is now in place is weighted in favour of the government with the power of legislation on their side. Why negotiate when you can wait the other party out and then legislate them into accepting what you offered in the first place.
The provincial government has ordered the Ministry of Education, OPSBA and ETFO back to the negotiation table. ETFO has escalated their work to rule strike actions, the school boards have requested the right to use retaliatory practises and the government has indicated that they might be close to legislating a solution.
Premier Wynne has noted that the current negotiating model needs to be addressed but will not do so until the current round of contracts is signed. Why wait?
Bob Mitchell
Robert Mitchell