Ontario paid $1-million to teachers’ union; Government also financed pay hikes by diverting money from a fund for programs to help struggling students graduate
The Globe and Mail
Wed Oct 21 2015
Byline: ADRIAN MORROW
Dateline: TORONTO

Ontario’s Liberal government paid $1-million directly to the province’s high school teachers’ union as part of a deal to defuse one of its most explosive labour disputes, a document obtained by The Globe and Mail reveals.

In addition, the government financed raises for teachers by diverting money from a fund for special programs that help struggling students graduate.

These details are included in the confidential 42-page document that spells out the terms of a three-year labour agreement the province and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation reached in August. The government and the union have kept the document secret, but The Globe and Mail obtained a copy.

The million-dollar payout is highly unusual: The government agreed to compensate the union for the cost of negotiations because problems with the province’s new bargaining system caused talks to drag on for so long.
The agreement ended a year of tough negotiations during which the union unleashed strikes at school boards in the Toronto area and Northern Ontario, and the government legislated the teachers back to work. Wrestling with an $8.5-billion deficit, the province insists all labour deals be “net-zero,” meaning raises must be offset by other cuts.

The Liberals need to keep a strong relationship with OSSTF, in part because teachers are key members of the party’s political base and in part because no labour dispute draws more attention than those involving schools. The timing allowed the party to clear the dispute off its plate ahead of the federal election, in which Premier Kathleen Wynne campaigned hard for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

The deal consists of a memorandum of settlement, a letter of understanding, six letters of agreement and two appendices.

And they show the government paid OSSTF millions of dollars and won few concessions.

Most significantly, the government agreed to give $1-million in taxpayer money to OSSTF to cover the cost of the negotiations.

“The Crown shall pay to OSSTF the sum of one million dollars ($1,000,000) to offset the cost of central collective bargaining no later than ninety (90) days after the ratification process,” the memorandum of settlement says.

The deal does not make clear why taxpayers are on the hook for OSSTF’s expenses. The union collects dues from its 60,000 members to pay for activities such as negotiations. Education Minister Liz Sandals’s office refused to comment on the payment.

But union and government officials said the province agreed to pay the money after admitting the collective bargaining process it instituted last year, which was supposed to lead to faster and less acrimonious negotiations, made the talks longer and more complicated.

The new process, in which some contract matters are negotiated centrally between the government and the unions while others are left to individual school boards, resulted in more work and took more time than previous rounds, which made negotiating more expensive for the union, OSSTF president Paul Elliott told The Globe.

Because the government legislation was responsible, he said, the government agreed to compensate OSSTF. A government source corroborated Mr. Elliott’s account.

Brian Smeenk, a Toronto labour lawyer who was not involved in the negotiations, said such a payment from an employer to its union is unusual. In some cases, he said, an employer might agree to pay employees’ wages while they serve on a bargaining committee. But simply writing the union a $1-million cheque is not common.

“I’ve never seen a subsidization clause that goes beyond paying for lost salaries. This unusual case … is not a compensation for actual costs incurred; it’s what one might call a ‘sweetener,’ ” he said.

Mr. Smeenk said it is generally not a good idea for an employer to pay a union’s bargaining costs because each side in a negotiation should be responsible for its own interests.

“From the perspective of a prudent employer, you don’t want to do that, because each party should pay its own costs, because each party is there to protect the interests of its own side,” he said. “As the employer, you don’t want to provide an economic incentive to the union to make your life difficult.”

The document also reveals where the government found the money for a 1.5-per-cent raise and 1-per-cent lump-sum payment to high school teachers. The province has repeatedly insisted the deal with OSSTF is a “net-zero,” but refused to divulge how it paid for the pay bumps.

The money came from two sources: “The available funding for secondary programming enhancement and voluntary payout of discounted net present value of future retirement gratuities provides for increases to salaries, wages and direct compensation,” the memorandum of settlement says.

Secondary programming enhancement was a pool of money set up in 2008 to hire extra staff for programs to help students at risk of dropping out.

The programs offer such things as co-op work experience stints and courses that count toward college credits.

The government was supposed to add money to the fund for five years. But in 2012, the fifth year, as a cost-saving measure, the province decided not to contribute any more money. Mr. Elliott said that payment would have been about $20-million.

That amount is now being used for the raise and lump-sum payment.

The second source of funds is a rejigging in the contract of how banked sick days are paid out. Teachers will now have the option of cashing in banked sick days next year, instead of waiting for retirement, but will receive a lower rate. This is expected to save money, which will be put towards the raises.

Ms. Sandals’s spokeswoman, Alessandra Fusco, insisted there were “no cuts to the classroom” to fund the raises.

The government’s rationale is that because the secondary programming enhancement money was diverted from the fund before it was spent in the classroom, it does not constitute a cut.

“We can confirm that modest wage increases were offset by savings through the collective agreements, with no cuts to the classroom,” she wrote in an e-mail.

In another significant provision, the government is giving OSSTF at least $5-million to help set up a union-controlled fund to take over the administration of teacher benefits. The province’s school boards will contribute at least $12-million.

At the moment, individual school boards handle benefit payments. The plan is to consolidate them all into a single fund. The fund’s board of directors will consist of five union members and four representatives of school boards and the government.

Ms. Fusco said the OSSTF trust is one of six new programs that will consolidate health, life and dental benefits for teachers and other workers in the education sector. The new trusts will merge more than 1,000 benefit plans with 72 school boards into a handful of larger funds. She said government and school boards will recoup startup costs because they will save money down the road.

“Establishing benefit trusts will reduce the costs of providing and administering benefits due to an increase in benefits purchasing power, establishing larger risk pools and sharing administrative services among the trusts,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Among the other provisions of the deal: The government agreed not to change job security, contracting out, professional assignments and supervision, teacher workload, staff meetings and class size. Job security is a particularly important point for teachers in an era of declining enrolment.

The province will not be allowed to launch new “initiatives” such as testing programs or teaching techniques. These will be formulated by a group of government and union representatives tasked with creating a new “policy program memorandum.” This section also contains a provision for an extra PD day.

The province agreed to settle four union grievances and fully compensate the grievers. There were no details on the grievances.

School boards, the union and the government are meeting, with a facilitator, to discuss regulation 274, which obliges principals to hire teachers based on seniority. The rule helps the unions, but critics charge teachers are not hired on merit. The discussions are supposed to conclude before the end of the year.

The province has reached deals with all but one of its teacher unions; it is still negotiating with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

The government says it wants ETFO to accept the same deal the OSSTF received. The province is also negotiating with five groups of school support staff workers, including some who are represented by OSSTF.

(c) 2015 The Globe and Mail Inc. All Rights Reserved.

School closures possible due to lack of cleanliness
The Sarnia Observer
Fri Oct 23 2015
Byline: BARBARA SIMPSON, THE OBSERVER

The Lambton Kent District School Board could be forced to close schools if the cleanliness of its facilities continues to deteriorate due to work-to-rule action taken by support staff, says the board’s director of education.

“It’s approaching the point where student safety is going to be or could be compromised, and that puts us in a position where under the Education Act, we could close the schools due to a lack of student safety,” director Jim Costello said Thursday.

“We don’t want to do that. We want to keep programs running and keep the ball rolling as best we can.”

Ontario school support staff -including custodians, secretaries, educational assistants and early childhood educators, to name just a few -have recently ramped up work-to-rule job action after their representative -the Canadian Union of Public Employees -and the Ontario government continue to struggle to reach a new collective agreement.

Under CUPE work-to-rule instructions, custodians aren’t permitted to do a variety of tasks, including sweeping hallways, cleaning the offices of school management, emptying pencil sharpeners and delivering teaching supplies to classrooms. They’ve also been instructed not to cut grass and trim trees, as well as replace bulbs and ballasts, unless there’s a health and safety risk.

“In a number of schools, we have our principals sweeping floors and doing some of the cleaning,” Costello said. “We’re very concerned about our kindergarten classrooms because they’re play-based and they have sandboxes in them.”

And at least some of the board’s roughly 22,000 students are already noticing firsthand the impact of the job action.

About 60 students protested outside of Sarnia Collegiate Institute & Technical School (SCITS) Thursday morning to draw attention to the lack of cleanliness in their school.

Students told The Observer there are layers of dust around the school, as well as urine on the floor of the tech hallway that hasn’t been mopped up, and rat traps in the foods’ room for students to look after themselves.

“It’s nasty in there,” said Grade 12 student Anna McKillop, co-organizer of Thursday’s protest.

But the students say their blame doesn’t lie with the school’s custodians who they say are taking a stand for a fair deal.

“It shows just how much they do for us and why they deserve a raise,” said Kayla Grant, a fellow Grade 12 student and co-organizer of the protest.

She also pointed out custodians are likely struggling with the fact they have to “walk through a school they’ve worked at for years and want to clean up, but they can’t.”

CUPE Local 1238 president Jodi McGill said Thursday their members appreciate the sign of support from SCITS students.

About 1,000 Lambton Kent District support staff are represented through CUPE Local 1238.

“We would definitely like to get a deal,” McGill said. “We’re hoping to bargain until we get a deal.”

CUPE members want a new contract that addresses, in part , concerns around job security, the issue of violence in the classroom and sick days, she noted.
Another round of central bargaining is expected to happen Oct. 27, with a local bargaining date set for Oct. 28.

When asked about the possibility of Lambton Kent public schools closing due to the lack of cleanliness, McGill said the board “will have to do what they have to do.”

Board officials were given “ample notice” ahead of the implementation of the second phase of work-to-rule action, she noted.

“We followed the process and (the board) had the opportunity to make whatever arrangements they needed to make, so all I can say is our members are doing their best to stick to the work-to-rule,” she said.

“Student safety is a priority for us as well. If there is a hazard in the hallway, we are going to pick up the hazard. We don’t want them to trip over things. We don’t want those kinds of things.”

Costello said the school board has hired retired principals and supply teachers to help out during the work-to-rule job action.

“Non-union staff who work at the board office -including superintendents and myself – have been doing some supervision in schools to help out with supervision on playgrounds,” he said. “We’ve mobilized as many non-union staff as we can to put them into schools, so I’m thankful for those folks.”

But Costello said the use of additional staff and outside help for cleaning and supervisory purposes can only last for so long.

“It’s not sustainable over the long-term.”
– – –
WHAT CUPE CUSTODIANS ARE INSTRUCTED NOT TO DO:
* School compost programs;
* Grass cutting, tree trimming or leaf pick-up unless there’s a health and safety risk;
* Clean chalkboards and whiteboards, as well as empty pencil sharpeners;
* Transport photocopy paper and deliver teaching supplies to classrooms;
* Change bulbs and ballasts unless there’s a health and safety risk;
* Check email more than once a day;
* Clean the offices of principals, vice-principals and other managers;
* Sweeping hallways.
(Source: Canadian Union of Public Employees website)

(c) 2015 Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved.

It was announced tonight that Paul Moist, National President of CUPE – Canada’s largest union at 634,000 members will not run for re-election as CUPE’s head leader.  CUPE Ontario has put forth brother Fred Hahn, General Vice-President of CUPE Ontario, as a candidate for this position.  Below is the article from the cupe.ca

We had another local bargaining date today and things are moving along.  We have more dates coming up Octover 23, November 23, 25 and 26.

Your new Executive and  committees have been sworn in.  The complete list is coming soon!  Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting and cast their vote!

Due to legailty and licensing issues we will NOT be able to provide daycare in the event of a strike.  You may want to find a person or two that you know and trade off babysitting if we end up in a withdrawl of services.

Support staff also signalling a strike
Sabrina Bedford
By Sabrina Bedford
Thursday, August 6, 2015 5:20:55 EDT PM

If school support staff decide to strike, it will have a much bigger impact on area students than a teachers’ strike, the local union representing Ontario members says.

“Education is more than teachers,” said Sue Hanson, president of CUPE Local 5678.

“Education is having your I.T. person in the school. You have your custodians and maintenance staff keeping the buildings safe and clean. You have your educational assistants. You have the office staff who basically run the school. People don’t realize the impact that we have on a child’s education every day.”

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has now requested the aid of a conciliator from the Ministry of Labour in its central negotiations, joining the ranks of the elementary, secondary, and Catholic school unions in looming strike action in September.

Requesting a conciliator is one step in the process before a legal strike position emerges, however, and the union would need to ask for a “no board report” in order for that to happen before September.

Without administrative staff, Hanson suggested that schools wouldn’t have the capability to run, but without knowing the type of job action CUPE plans to implement, the school board can’t speculate on whether a strike of this nature would close its schools.

“If it’s a strike itself, we have to look at the safety of our students and staff, and that’s the number one priority we have – ensuring the safety of all students. It’s a matter of looking at the nature of their job action and making that decision at the time,” said Jeff McMillan, chair of the Upper Canada District School Board.

“We’re certainly proceeding as if everything is going to be normal, but we have contingency plans in the event there are disruptions in different areas. We’re prepared for what may come, but it’s our intention to proceed with everything as normal as possible at the beginning of the school year.”

Because all levels of labour bargaining in question take place at the provincial level, the Upper Canada board (UCDSB) is not involved in the dialogue.

CUPE school workers include educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians and administrative staff, and the local union represents 1,500 support staff in the UCDSB. They represent educational workers in all four of the province’s school board systems.

The local bargaining process is scheduled for August 13, but the issues of contention are occurring within CUPE’s central talks with the Ministry of Education, and they revolve around monetary issues, according to Hanson.

“The government was wanting everything that has a dollar sign attached to it to be at the central table. You’re looking at everything from wages to vacation to stat time, right down to work boots. They want to have control over all spending by taking it all away from the local level.”

The main issue for the CUPE is that the ministry only set four dates to negotiate “such broad, significant issues,” and they’re trying to establish more meeting dates before September to avoid a strike.

“We’ve met once,” said Hanson. “They’re not really talking to us at this point. The government has been saying in the House there will be no unrest in education in September, that everything would be settled. People are far from settled. We haven’t even started as far as CUPE support staff.

While Hanson wouldn’t directly describe the job action as a sympathy vote, she said educational unions, in general, tend to stick together.

“If you work in education in Ontario, we’re all in the same boat. No one’s being treated any differently. They’re not working with any union or any teacher federation in a positive, going-forward fashion.

“All unions are working together, let’s just say that,” she said.

CUPE workers have been without a contract since September 2014, along with Ontario teachers.

SELENA ROSS The Globe and Mail Published Monday, Jul. 27, 2015 8:33PM EDT Last updated Monday, Jul. 27, 2015 11:16PM EDT

The union representing Ontario school support staff signalled on Monday that contract talks are going badly and said it will not rule out strike action in September – a move that could keep many schools closed for health and safety reasons, even if teachers stay on the job.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), whose 55,000 education workers include custodians and tradespeople, requested a conciliator on Monday.

The union would need to ask the conciliator for a “no board report” in order to be in strike position by September. Terri Preston, chair of the bargaining committee for CUPE’s central talks with the Ministry of Education, said the union is not planning to request the report right away, but it hopes to force the province to set more bargaining dates than the two it has scheduled in August.

CUPE is well behind the teachers’ unions in the progress of its talks. The two sides have only exchanged opening proposals so far, Ms. Preston said, and the next two bargaining dates are scheduled for late August.

“There’s a level of frustration with the talks,” she said. “There’s a real perception that [the support workers’] bargaining is being seen as less important than others, even though we’re all in the school boards together.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Education said it is committed to setting bargaining dates as soon as possible with CUPE and the other unions.

In past labour disruptions by CUPE school staff, school closures were decided on a case-by-case basis at the board level, said ministry spokeswoman Nilani Logeswaran.

CUPE school workers also include educational assistants, special-education and literacy educators, school secretaries, administrative staff and most of the province’s early childhood educators.

Chuck Hay, an executive superintendent at the Toronto District School Board, said in June that the board may need to close schools for health and safety reasons if CUPE staff stop working at any point.

The union leadership will meet at the end of August to review progress and decide whether to continue bargaining as planned or take other action, Ms. Preston said. Two more bargaining dates have been set in September.

The CUPE workers’ contracts expired, along with the teachers’ contracts, last August.

The union’s negotiations with the province have gone less smoothly than the teachers’ bargaining ever since. Under Ontario’s new two-tier bargaining system, big financial items are discussed at a central table with the province and the association of school boards, while smaller items are discussed locally with each school board. Bargaining began by determining which issues should be addressed at which table, a process that took months for the teachers’ unions.

However, CUPE and its negotiating partners could not agree on how to divide their talks, which sent the question to the Ontario Labour Relations Board. A ruling determined the division in late June. By that point, CUPE negotiators were hoping for a slew of bargaining dates over the summer to help make up for the delay, Ms. Preston said. “We’ve had two dates for bargaining and now nothing until the end of August again,” she said. “So we were really surprised that that’s all we were given.”