Last week’s announcement that the Ministry of Education and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario had reached an accord was good news for local teachers and the local public school board.
It also ended the teachers’ work-to-rule campaign across the province.
“For the majority of the teachers that I’ve spoken to, they’re happy with it,” said Sharon Preston, president of the local ETFO. “We can work with this.”
The accord includes a wage settlement of 10.2 percent over four years, 200 minutes of preparation time, and caps on supervision time and class sizes.
But the accord is only a framework for school boards and teacher locals to work from. “Pretty well everything is there to be bargained at the local level,” Preston said.
For example, the framework guarantees 200 minutes of prep time for teachers. It will be decided at the local level whether these 200 minutes are attained in the second, third, or fourth year of the collective agreement.
The accord is retroactive to Sept. 1, 2004 (teachers’ collective agreements expired back on Aug. 31).
“I think there’s quite a bit of work to do yet, but it does give both parties a framework to build on,” said Warren Hoshizaki, director of education for the Rainy River District School Board.
“There are different ways we can reach the targets in the framework. It’s not as simple as it looks,” he noted.
“I think the positive part about it is the length of the agreement,” Hoshizaki said of the four-year accord. “There will be some stability. The focus can be on student achievement, and I think that’s everybody’s focus.”
ETFO president Emily Noble called the accord “unprecedented.
“A year ago, we gave the government and the school boards notice that we would not settle for anything less than improved working conditions for our members,” she noted Thursday.
“We have not achieved our goal.”
Elementary teachers ended their work-to-rule campaign that began in March as a result of the announcement. But Noble warned if no collective agreement has been negotiated by June 1, then work-to-rule would be imposed once again.
“The framework we have negotiated is a good deal for teachers, but it is an even better one for Ontario elementary students,” she said. “As we have said repeatedly, teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions.”
“Hopefully we can resolve this before June 1 and have an agreement in place,” Hoshizaki said. “We’ve got quite a bit done already.”
Locally, both sides will meet next on May 18-19, and again on May 24. Hoshizaki said talks have gone well so far.
“From our perspective, they’ve always been very professional and cordial, and very positive,” he remarked. “Now we’ve got to roll up our sleeves and see if we can get his done before June 1 and have some continuity for a few years.
“We’re looking forward to it.”
The local public board and the local ETFO have been meeting monthly since October.
The meetings have been less productive recently because both sides had dealt with most of the local and non-monetary issues, and were waiting for word from the ministry on what funding would be available.
“It was impossible [to negotiate] because the ministry had to make a statement about funding,” Hoshizaki said. “Both the local and the board couldn’t do anything about any of those issues—the 200 minutes or the compensation—until the ministry said, ‘OK, we’ll fund it.’
“Previously, boards were able to do this within their provincial grants.”
Hoshizaki noted the minister chose to set a provincial framework for teachers and school boards. “That’s very different from how it’s been done,” he added.
Preston said it was a welcome change from previous provincial governments.
“It’s nice to have a government there that encourages people to work with them,” she said. “It’s collaborative, and I find that’s a very positive environment in which to work.
Preston also acknowledged the efforts of the ETFO, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, as well as Education minister Gerard Kennedy.
“They put a lot of hard work and effort into this. I think it was a very co-operative endeavour on all their parts,” she said.
“Hopefully, things will go well and this will be the start of four years of peace and stability in the elementary system,” she added.
Meanwhile, the ministry continues discussions with the province’s secondary teachers, whose collective agreement also expired Aug. 31, 2004.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
