York Region Catholic school teachers protest after education minister's concessions on cuts deemed intangible

‘The reality is the government can say lots of things and act differently,’ says one teacher protesting outside MPP Christine Elliott’s office in Newmarket

Yorkregion.com
March 6, 2020
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Cars beeped to show support when teachers carried their slogans Thursday, March 5 in yet another walkout near MPP Christine Elliott’s office in Newmarket.

The provincewide walkout on Thursday by Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) and French board teachers who remained adamant to see tangible change after Education Minister Stephen Lecce signalled the day before some confessions to stir the stagnating talks between the Tory-led government of Ontario and the province’s four largest teachers' unions.

“You have to appreciate the fact that the government has indicated some willingness to make moves at the table,” said science teacher Marshall Jarvis.

“However, they haven't translated those into anything meaningful,” he continued. “The reality is the government can say lots of things and act completely different.”

While teachers' demands have long remained the same: keeping average class sizes the same at 21 and e-learning classes optional, and a two-per-cent raise, Lecce said there are plans to make e-learning optional instead of mandatory, and keep class sizes the same for "young learners."

The minister also said the average high school class size this year was 22.9 across the province, and the revised provincial plan would see that increase to 23.

But for Jarvis, the government has to“put these things in writing, and settles with the teachers on all the issues that are outstanding or we're going to have to protest.”

“The reality is that they took negotiating positions that were untenable,” Jarvis said of how the government attempted to increase class sizes from 21 to 28 and then suggested 25 as compromise and now down to 23. “Why they didn’t start at 23?”

“This has caused them nothing but grief and has disrupted the entire province of Ontario, and they should be put out of office for that reason.”

While the government announced the e-learning courses -- a change that’s hugely rejected by all of the province’s four largest unions -- Jarvis sounded that alarm that “governments change their minds constantly and Doug Ford is being a perfect example of that,” deriding the Ontario premier, who is “trying to figure out how to colour license plates. We'll see how long it takes them to get the wording right.”

Ford was recently pressed by the media over Ontario’s new yet defective license plates. In late February, the Ontario government said the new plates will be replaced “at no cost” to taxpayers.

For Filomena Ferraro, president of York OECTA, “There are also still many outstanding questions including the lack of commitment to class size caps and how funding will work for specialized programs.”

“23:1 is still greater than the 22:1 we had in 2018-19, and while it may be less than the original proposal of 28:1 it is still a loss of hundreds of teachers and thousands of courses for students, provincially, from our system alone,” Ferraro added.

“On e-learning -- the government has provided “no” details on how the program will work.”

She said the average for e-learning so far is at 35:1, which is “very high.”

“We know that the (e-learning) program is not for every student -- many students are not successful in this model of learning,” she added. “The model we are currently using in our Board works. We have suggested a committee to review further the program and make any recommendations for improvement after further study.”

'This was never about salary'

During his Tuesday announcement, Lecce said the government continues with its stance in capping salary increases for teachers at one per cent.

The minister also accused teachers’ unions of prioritizing salary and benefit increases, describing it’s the only reason the teacher talks were still at an impasse.

Lecce also lashed out at unions and called for "merit-based hiring" for teachers and rejected a hiring process that’s based on "seniority." The minister has previously highlighted how troublesome math grades for some students is one example of that.

“This was never about salary,” Jarvis said. “This has always been about class size and meaningful learning conditions for our students.”

He further emphasized, “We did not make this a salary issue. The minister and Doug Ford attempted to make this a salary issue and they lost that battle too. So what they need to do is put meaningful positions in front of the table and in front of our negotiators, and let them settle this.”

Before Lecce’s announcement, OECTA’s President Liz Stuart released a statement in the same day saying, "We are prepared to accept the salary they have offered at the bargaining table, in order to bring stability and certainty into our schools for our students and parents.”

“Since our teachers have lost close to 2 per cent of their salaries fighting the government’s cuts to education, the 1 per cent compensation is clearly not the issue for teachers,” said Ferraro.