Jumping gun

The clock is ticking on the province’s looming showdown with teachers and it remains anyone’s guess as to whether it plays out with an imposed contract, a court challenge potentially costing taxpayers millions, or perhaps even an election over the issue.
The cash-strapped McGuinty Liberals have little choice in their drive to rein in spending, but recalling the legislature a week early to introduce a bill to impose a new contract on teachers, as well as ban a strike or lockout for the next two school years, is jumping the gun and exposes the government to charges of not bargaining in good faith.
Education minister Laurel Broten said yesterday she believes the bill would withstand a court challenge, citing the government tried to negotiate with unions for the past six months. But really, how is it bargaining when one side goes into the talks saying the deal is a two-year wage freeze and cuts to benefits and if you don’t take it, we’ll foist it on you?
What’s more, the government unveiled its plan to introduce legislation well before the Sept. 1 deadline it had given local school boards to negotiate deals, which makes a mockery of the bargaining process and basically leaves the Rainy River District School Board, among others, in a lurch as it tries to reach an agreement in good faith with what are, in fact, its employees.
And all this without the threat of imminent job action on the part of teachers to boot.
Collective bargaining has its faults, but it’s the best system we have to balance the rights of workers with the needs of employers.
Unfortunately, the McGuinty government appears to have abandoned that principle in a panic—and it’s taxpayers who will end up holding the bag if it backfires.