Ontario labour board rules against teacher union on bargaining issues

Thestar.com
Sept. 9, 2019
Kristin Rushowy

The labour relations board has ruled that class-size caps and sick day specifics are provincial bargaining issues, a decision the high school teachers’ union said it is “extremely disappointed” with.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation had argued a number of issues were best left for negotiations between individual school boards and union locals, under the education system’s two-tier bargaining system.

After being unable to reach agreement with the province and school boards’ associations, OSSTF turned to the labour relations board.

“We are extremely disappointed that trustee associations put forward, and the Ontario Labour Relations Board accepted, the argument that local school boards are incapable of making even the smallest collective bargaining decisions and cannot be trusted to determine even the most minute budgetary allocations,” said OSSTF President Harvey Bischof.

“One wonders about the ongoing relevance of these previously important local governance bodies. Nevertheless, OSSTF will proceed to put proposals on the bargaining table that are good for Ontario’s students.”

Alexandra Adamo, spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce, said “our government is pleased with the (decision), and remain squarely focused on landing a deal that keeps our kids in the classroom.”

She also said “we look forward to continuing negotiations in good faith with the OSSTF, and all our education partners, in order to reach a deal that supports the needs of students and keeps them in a positive learning environment throughout the year.”

While the Ford government is making the controversial move towards class-size averages of 28 over the next four years in high schools, from the current 22, some collective agreements with individual boards spell out maximum class sizes for particular courses, based on staffing and need.

Bischof said the union, which represents teachers and some support staff, believes class-size caps “should be a local school board matter, responsive to local cultures and geographies. The administration of sick leave should be local, referring to such things as the process for providing medical evidence for an absence” and supervision duties and short-term leaves should also be decided at the local level, he said.

“In every case above, plus a few additional ones, the decision was that local boards were not capable of handling these matters at the local level,” he said. “There is truly nothing beyond trivialities to be dealt with locally.”

The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association did not wish to comment.

Negotiations with the province’s education unions continue, though the Canadian Union of Public Employees has filed a no-board report given its frustrations with bargaining, putting school support staff in a strike position in about three weeks.