03) TENTATIVE AGREEMENTS WON BY ONTARIO TEACHER UNIONS

People’s Voice Ontario Bureau

                Ontario’s Secondary and Catholic Teachers’ unions were seeking ratification of tentative agreements achieved with the Liberal provincial government as People’s Voice was going to press.

                The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation announced that it had achieved the ‘net zero’ agreement demanded by the province while also winning a small wage increase including a lump sum payment in the first year and a 1.3% increase in the second year. Young teachers, who have been frozen on the grid since Bill 115 was imposed, will now be able to move up. Most important, the no-concessions agreement means teachers prevented the government from stripping the contract under its public sector wage freeze.  Among other things, government negotiators were keen to increase class sizes – a move opposed by the public and rejected by the union.

                The tentative agreement reached by OECTA representing Catholic Teachers is said to be similar to the OSSTF agreement. The next hurdle is getting local agreements  with School Boards, many of which took a hard line after the government announced its wage freeze and ‘net zero’ bargaining strategy. Strikes are still possible if School Boards don’t change their demands for contract strips, or if teachers decide not to ratify the tentative agreements. Ratification meeting and votes are scheduled in Districts across the province in September.

                Five unions representing teachers and educational workers have been without collective agreements since August 2014, when all the old contracts expired. This left the unions in a strong position to coordinate strategies in new provincial bargaining with the Ontario government, and in local bargaining  with School Boards. The new two-tiered bargaining was introduced by the Liberals after Bill 115 suspended free collective bargaining and imposed contracts in 2012.

                With tentative settlements by two of the bigger unions, the pattern may have been set for the Elementary Teachers, who are in still in negotiations and considering work to rule actions through the fall.  CUPE, representing support staff, is still negotiating, as are teachers in the French public and French Catholic Boards.

                There is speculation that the government  toned down its aggressive approach to bargaining after the federal election was called, in an effort to head off a province-wide showdown with teacher and education unions.  Premier Wynne’s Liberals are campaigning for Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals in Ontario, where the federal election could be won or lost. Liberal governments undermining free collective bargaining while driving down workers’ wages and living standards won’t win many votes.

                The Communist Party in Ontario is calling for a massive public investment in education, and a new funding formula for School Boards to meet student needs. “The Liberals are all about austerity, privatization, cutting jobs and reducing wages” said CPC (Ontario) leader Liz Rowley who is also a candidate for the federal party in Sudbury. “The Liberals are no good for Ontario, federally or provincially.  We need new policies and new left voices – including Communists – to fight for those policies in the Legislature and in Parliament”.

(The above article is from the September 1-15, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)