Ontario unveils details of contract legislation against teachers
Posted August 16, 2012 3:01 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The provincial government unveiled details of legislation it plans to introduce if it does not strike deals with the remaining teachers unions’ by the end of the month.
Education Minister Laurel Broten said the Putting Students First Act, if passed, would take effect Sept. 1 and would prevent automatic pay increases for teachers if current contracts roll over as scheduled on Aug. 31.
The terms of the legislation mirror the conditions already reached with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) during negotiations.
The unions would also lose their right to strike – or be put under lockout – for the next two years.
“We started [negotiations] in February. We made it clear…we needed to live within the province’s fiscal realities and we needed to make choices.
“We negotiated for more than 300 hours with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association and we reached an agreement,” Broten said.
Earlier this year, Broten urged other unions to use that agreement as a “roadmap.”
The agreement includes a two-year salary freeze, a restructured short-term sick leave plan that cuts the amount of sick days in half to 10 and eliminates banking unused sick days.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario was no immediately available for comment.
Eliminating banked sick days is expected to save the government $1.4 billion, and the salary freeze would bring in $250 million in its first year.
Broten said the province is spending money on all-day kindergarten and smaller class sizes, and is asking for concessions from teachers in the new contract.
The Liberal government has threatened legal action if school boards can’t strike deals with their unions by the Aug. 31 deadline.
The government, which is dealing with a $15 billion deficit, has also come to agreements with its French teachers, the Association des Enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, and a smaller union of support staff.
Broten did not say when the act would be introduced. The Liberals would have to recall the legislature early to pass any new legislation.
More to come
