No new talks scheduled and teachers warn more strikes are possible

Thestar.com
December 5, 2019
Jason Miller

Ontario’s secondary teachers wrapped up their one-day strike warning more walkouts may be on the way if there’s no progress at the bargaining table.

Some 60,000 teachers, education workers and professional staff hit the picket lines Wednesday for the daylong job action which shut down hundreds of public high schools--as well as both elementary and secondary schools in some French and Catholic boards.

“Certainly there’s a possibility of further disruption if we can’t get this government to move off its positions that erode the quality of education,” said Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.

No new bargaining dates are scheduled with the province, though Bischof said if there is some movement, the union will resume talks.

“It has to be on the basis of a proposal--not just going back and sitting at a bargaining table for four straight days with them coming back with nothing,” Bischof said at a picket line set up at Premier Doug Ford’s Etobicoke North constituency office.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce told the Star he was disappointed with Wednesday’s walkout and that threats of more job action “are actually targeting kids more than they are the government because only they pay the price for this form of escalation.”

The government is looking to raise classes in high schools from last year’s average of 22 to 25--down from its original proposal of 28--phasing out thousands of teaching jobs and course options. The move is unpopular with the public, and the Ontario Student Trustees Association--which represents the province’s 2 million students--wants average class sizes to remain at 22.

The province also wants to mandate two online credits for teens, which would be a first in North America. The province’s original proposal was four required credits, in classes that would average 35 students.

The province has also passed legislation limiting salary increases to one per cent a year--with the OSSTF seeking cost-of-living increases, or about two per cent.

Lecce has said wages are the main stumbling block.

“The OSSTF continues to be focused on a compensation proposal that would result provincially in a $1.5 billion cost to the taxpayer,” Lecce said. “That is $1.5 billion that would not be going to mental health initiatives, special education, or math supports for students.”

The $1.5 billion is the cost over four years if all education unions received an annual two per cent pay increase.

The thousands of teachers, maintenance workers, office staff, psychologists, social workers and other education workers return to work Thursday, and Bischof said he hopes the government “will now recognize that my members are serious.”

He did say the sides have agreed that any deal will be three years in length.

In Toronto, hundreds of teachers and support staff picketed outside the headquarters of the public school board.

It was the first province-wide strike by the union in more than two decades.

“We’re here to stand up for (students) to make sure they get what they need, which is class sizes that are realistic, that are safe, that they can learn in and that those don’t increase,” said occasional high school teacher Fraser Gottlieb.

Gottlieb said it’s about ensuring there is a sufficient level of funding, “so that we can offer (students) the course that they want to take, and that they have the option to take courses and they aren’t forced to take mandatory online courses.”

Both sides have expressed frustration with the lack of progress in the talks.

“At the central (bargaining) table, my understanding is, we’re miles apart,” said Leslie Wolfe, president of OSSTF Toronto. “The government, while it has made proposals through the press, none of those proposals have been brought to the bargaining table.”

Lecce said he is calling for a private mediator to aid in talks, as one did with school support staff represented by the Canadian Union for Public Employees in order to get a deal in early October.

That is the only deal the province and school boards’ associations have reached so far in the education sector.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is currently in a work-to-rule, and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association will be in a legal strike position in less than three weeks. The union representing teachers in the province’s French language boards are conducting a strike vote this month.

“We have made many moves and now the ball is in (Bischof’s) court to make one himself,” Lecce said. “Parents want all parties to be reasonable.”

In the legislature, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said “parents watched with dismay (Tuesday night) as the Ford government scuttled any hope of a resolution that would keep schools open” and admonished Lecce for saying a “new framework” had been offered earlier in the day, when the union said that was not the case.

Lecce responded that “every time our government has made significant, reasonable proposals in good faith to the OSSTF, not only have they rejected our proposals but actually neglected to advance any new proposals since the first day our bargaining commenced.”

He said the union “can’t have it both ways. They cannot outright reject every proposal of the government but not bring any new proposal to the table.”

NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles accused the government of “(pushing) forward a radical agenda for our schools. One that’s asking students and families to settle for less: fewer teachers, fewer courses and fewer resources to support their learning. Their plan pushes kids into a risky online e-learning experiment, while eliminating 10,000 caring adults in our schools. But instead of backing down, the minister has only doubled down.”

In Washington, Premier Doug Ford told reporters “we want to have the kids in the classroom --we want to make sure that we get this deal signed."