Extracurricular activities at area high schools should be back on track after an agreement between the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) and the provincial government was reached last week.
Paul Rawlinson, the president of District 18 of the OSSTF, which represents about 800 secondary school teachers in the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB), said he expects local secondary school teachers will return to providing extracurricular activities.
Rawlinson acknowledged it will be up to the individual teachers to decide whether they will again volunteer their time for extracurricular activities and when they will resume.
“It’s not an on-off switch,” he said, referring to the amount of time it will take to reinstate activities such as Sports.
“At the end of the day it’s got to be up to the individual members and we respect their choice.”
OSSTF president Ken Coran also stressed the decision to get back to extracurricular activities will be left up to the individual teacher.
“We respect our individual members’ decision and will protect them on a go-forward basis,” Coran said in a News release issued on Monday.
He estimated 20 per cent of teachers will likely never return to volunteering for after school clubs and teams, while another 20% didn’t support the boycott of extracurricular activities in the first place.
Secondary school teachers, along with their elementary school counterparts, withdrew from offering extracurricular activities in a political protest over Bill 115, which they say took away their right to collective bargaining. The provincial government imposed two-year contracts on teachers in January.
Rawlinson said with the new provincial government under Premier Kathleen Wynne and new education minister and Guelph MPP Liz Sandals, union officials are confident regular contract bargaining practices will be in place when the next round of talks start.
“(We believe there is a) renewed commitment to collective bargaining,” Rawlinson added. “We need to find a way to step forward. I believe there’s a sincere movement on the part of the new government … in restoring the system to normalcy. Many members will be happy there’s been a change in tone from the government.”
It’s a view shared by Sandals, who said the sides are working on a new contract bargaining framework.
Under the previous system school boards and local unions have held contract talks, with the government having the final say.
However, she added, the process has to have cross section negotiations at the local board and union level with government participation.
“We need to fix the bargaining structure so the province is still the funder, the school board as the employers, and the unions,” Sandals said.
She added the decision by the OSSTF to return to extracurricular activities was made following discussions involving union presidents at the local level.
Those talks have helped improve relations between the unions and government, despite ongoing anger over Bill 115.
“I think there was enough confidence that we were going to do things differently in the future,” Sandals said.
The education minister was quick to point out the agreement, which the sides continue to work on, was not the result of special promises made to the unions.
“There is no deep, dark secret agreement,” she said.
In a media release, Wynne said, “I’ve been clear that this issue needs to be addressed within Ontario’s existing fiscal framework,” referring to the government’s decision not to re-open contract talks with teachers.
“I am confident that our government’s commitment to fairness, consistency and respect in our conversations with OSSTF and all our partners will continue to result in real work being done for the people of Ontario.”
“None of us want the same thing to happen again,” Sandals said of any future resurrection of Bill 115-type legislation.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) is in talks with the government this week.
