Minister holds firm on teachers' deadline
November 29, 2008
Comments on this story
(15)
Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
Ontario's elementary teachers upped their battle with the province yesterday, saying they have a plan to kick-start contract negotiations – but refusing to talk about it until 10 hours after a deadline imposed by the Liberal government.
The province's education minister, however, held firm, saying tomorrow night's deadline still stands and that if the union has not returned to provincial negotiating tables by midnight, the salary offer and job improvements are gone.
"They have known since May that Nov. 30th was the date," Kathleen Wynne said in an interview. "All the other 22 (education) unions have been able to understand that deadline and they've reached provincial agreements. Everyone worked within that same time frame.
"This is brinksmanship."
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario – the country's largest teacher union – announced yesterday afternoon it would unveil a "major proposal to facilitate constructive dialogue with the provincial government" Monday morning at 10 a.m.
David Clegg, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, has said all along the deadline to have a provincial deal signed meant nothing to his union unless the Liberals committed to boosting elementary funding to that of secondary – a move that could cost the government up to $880 million a year, on top of the $800 million already offered.
He said teachers are being "punished for expecting an answer" on funding equity. "You can't solve a problem if you're not committed to solving it," he said.
However, Wynne said "if they have something they want to table, we are available from now to Monday morning, any time they want to talk."
The elementary teachers are the only union not to ink a provincial deal that provides a 12 per cent wage hike over the next four years, more preparation time and less supervision time. Without a provincial deal by tomorrow, the salary offer is four per cent over two years.
Once provincial deals are reached, bargaining with individual school boards begins in earnest, settling local issues before agreements are ratified.
Ontario's public high school teachers agreed to a deal with the higher wage increase and improved working conditions on Thursday night, with a promise to ratify local agreements by the end of January without labour disruption; Catholic and Francophone teachersdid so several months ago and most already have tentative agreements with individual school boards.
By the end of the four-year agreements, teachers will earn a maximum of $94,600. Currently, in Toronto's public board, elementary teachers earn a maximum of $84,147, and the average is about $60,000.
Clegg said it costs nothing for the province to commit to ending the funding gap – although he would expect equal funding by four to six years down the road – which would provide more specialist teachers and other resources, and give teachers the equivalent of one day a week in non-teaching time.
Toronto Star