April 2nd, 2013 (text here)
Dear Minister,
On Sunday, I was surprised to learn that you announced a “new” deal with the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation (OSSTF) after you and Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne supported an imposed collective agreement and voted for it in the legislature just last fall.
You will remember last spring a memo from the Ministry of Education to all Directors of Education on March 29, 2012 stated, “(This year’s budget allocation) provides no funding for any salary increases resulting from individual employee movement on the grid.” By July of 2012 your government was touting the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) deal to be a “roadmap” for school boards when negotiating new collective agreements for teachers. Given salary grid movement was not frozen, the deal cost taxpayers $450 million after it was replicated with all teachers’ unions. At the time the government suggested unpaid days off, non-banked sick days and other curbed benefits would save $150 million. By your own math the legislated deal has already left a $300-million hole in the government’s fiscal plan.
Now we learn you are prepared to give concessions on unpaid days, maternity benefits, sick days and retirement gratuities. If, for example, you enhance retirement gratuities from 10 cents on the dollar to 25 cents on the dollar, Ontario parents and taxpayers could be on the hook for an additional $63 Million when extended to all of Ontario’s 140,000 teachers. I need not remind you that teachers federations have a so-called “me too” clause built into their contracts, and therefore what you offer one union you are forced to extend to members of all the other unions. By tinkering with the existing collective agreement, your government could end up costing Ontarians hundreds of millions of dollars more at a time when our students have suffered through a labour dispute for the majority of this school year.
This is especially disappointing given Ms. Wynne had assured both parents and MPP’s that she would not re-open contracts and that “there was no new money” for wage increases or enhanced benefits. Not only did she re-open contracts, but I was also concerned to read that you are now discussing opening up and using the Education Ministry budget envelop and not the Education Ministry “wage” envelop as in previous months. This subtle, yet substantial reference indicates you have mislead the public and have altered an existing collective agreement that will now be funded in part outside the normal wage envelop from the whole education budget. In order to pay for your new commitments on maternity benefits, sick days, unpaid leave and retirement gratuities it is abundantly clear that you will be taking money from existing programing intended for students to pay for an increase in benefits to teachers unions. All of this at a time when many school boards are teaching students in portables, having difficulty fully implementing full day learning and struggling to fund textbooks.
As Minister, I ask you, do you not think it reckless to reallocate funding away from those programs used to educate our children and put it toward increased salaries and benefits, particularly after a fractious school year? Is it fair to Ontario’s students who have been used as pawns in a labour dispute to give up more in the future–their future– from their education? Are you even aware that Ontario’s debt and deficit as it stands now seriously compromises our public education system–makes full day learning unsustainable– unless tough but necessary decisions are made? Do you agree that your short term arrangements to pacify an electoral partner could have long term affects for our students?
It is now less than eight months since these collective agreements have been in place and your government has already reopened contracts, signalling to every other public sector union that if they are unhappy with the province’s fiscal parameters during or after negotiations they can count on your government to give into their demands. In that vein, I ask why was it necessary to negotiate a separate deal with OSSTF when the invocation of Bill 115 imposed agreements on all teachers unions? Similarly, while this agreement with OSSTF will cost indeed new money, is the government seriously considering even more money to appease ETFO in negotiations that are now underway?
Ontario students and their parents deserve better. Ontario taxpayers deserve to know the answers.
Kindest regards,
Lisa MacLeod, MPP
Nepean-CarletonOntario PC Education Critic
