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April 24, 2013 - Vol. 2, No.
33
Members of Secondary Teachers' Federation
Endorse Modifications
Minister of Education's Contemptuous Response
Members
of
Secondary
Teachers' Federation Endorse Modifications
• Minister of Education's Contemptuous Response
Governments
Must
Defend
Public
Right, Not Monopoly Right!
• Hands Off School Board Retirees! A Deal Is
a Deal!
- Enver Villamizar
• Government Orders School Boards to Cut
Benefits for Retirees Over 65
• Active and Retired Workers in Windsor-Essex
Respond to Government Attack
• Excerpts from Education Act Concerning
Retirement Benefits
Coming Events
• April 28 Day of Mourning for Workers Killed
or Injured on the Job
Members of Secondary Teachers' Federation
Endorse Modifications
Minister of Education's Contemptuous Response
On April 18 it was announced that members of the Ontario
Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) voted 84 per cent
in favour of modifications the government permitted during talks with
the union. The modifications were to terms imposed by the government
using the arbitrary powers conferred by Bill 115. Voting took place
from April 12-18 online or by phone. Members were asked if they were in
favour of the modified provincial framework agreement or not.
Following the vote, OSSTF President Ken Coran remarked,
"Our members
have exercised their democratic rights within our Federation to vote on
the changes to the working conditions that were imposed on us by the
Ontario government in January and they have voted to endorse those
changes.
"This agreement respects the fiscal parameters defined
by the
Ontario government but also respects creative solutions to problematic
issues identified by our members. In addition, the government has
committed to working collaboratively to ensure a fair, transparent and
democratic process is in place for the next
round of collective bargaining."
For her part, Minister of Education Liz Sandals sought
to claim this
result as an endorsement of her government's phony austerity agenda
that removes funding from social programs to pay the moneylenders. Ontario
Political
Forum rejects the Minister's contemptuous response.
 Sandals shamelessly tried
to paint the government's removal of
billions of dollars from education as something not only socially
responsible, but even beneficial for education: "The idea of living
within the existing funding envelope for education was by no means an
impediment to the agreement. Instead, it was
a catalyst for innovative thinking, collaborative problem-solving and
the renewal of our proud partnership with Ontario's public high school
teachers, support staff and school boards," she said.
According to this la-la land rendering of reality, the
government's
dictated parameters to remove $2.19 billion from education, and then
modified dictate with the same parameters, is not contemptuous of
rights but rather a "catalyst" for "innovation," "problem solving" and
"renewal." By this logic, bullying is
also a "catalyst" for "self-esteem," "resilience" and
"self-confidence." Who does the Minister think she is fooling? Does she
believe that after a year of almost daily resistance by teachers and
education workers to threats, blackmail, slander and bullying that they
are chumps who should now thank the government and
the Minister for being the "catalyst" for "innovation," "problem
solving" and "renewal?"
She went on to portray the modified terms to the imposed
terms as a
form of "common ground" agreed to by the union and its membership,
again trying to hide the violation of rights: "I want to thank everyone
who participated in reaching this agreement and all those who voted in
favour of it. All parties showed
a willingness to seek common ground in support of our common goal --
higher levels of student achievement. The result is an agreement that
is fair for taxpayers, federation members and school boards, but the
real winners are Ontario's students," she said.
Removing billions from education and claiming now that
this will
somehow result in higher levels of student achievement is rich indeed.
 She also deliberately tried
to hide the contempt which teachers and
education workers have for the government and its attempts to cover up
the violations of rights, stating: "Our government and OSSTF have come
a long way toward rebuilding our relationship in a collaborative
approach which reaffirms our commitment
to delivering excellence in our secondary schools for Ontario's
students." Of course working collaboratively does not extend to
affirming the right of teachers and education workers to collective
bargaining free from dictate. The government has a narrow
definition of collaboration and fairness.
Pouring salt in these wounds, the Minister tried to
paint a rosy
picture by claiming that the government's "collaboration" has "seen our
teachers, support staff and students return to enjoying extracurricular
activities." This statement comes right on the heels of a Labour Board
ruling which declared that the coordinated
withdrawal of extracurricular activities by elementary teachers in two
boards after non-agreements were imposed by government dictate, was an
illegal strike.
Ontario Political Forum
calls on teachers and education workers to continue
building
public opinion to oppose government disinformation aimed at undermining
their rights and presenting dictate as legitimate, and now even as
positive.
Governments
Must
Defend
Public
Right,
Not
Monopoly
Right!
Hands Off School Board Retirees! A Deal Is a Deal!
- Enver Villamizar -
When it comes to contracts, the government follows one
rule for the monopolies it does business with and another for dealing
with the working class. If
contracts are cancelled with the monopolies -- for example the decision
to relocate gas plants to save Liberal seats in the last general
election -- the government
makes it a principle that the public purse should be used to pay them
for the inconvenience of not being able to make their big
scores. The only debate
is how much they should be paid. In other words, even if they break
contracts with the monopolies, the monopolies still get paid one way or
another,
based on their
privileged position. But when it comes to the working class,
contracts are broken or imposed with impunity. Workers and retirees
are thrown under
the bus and told that their contracts are an unsustainable liability
and just to let bygones be bygones.
 A recent egregious example
of this is the order by the provincial government to
cut off the health and dental benefits of
roughly 570 retirees who worked for the Greater Essex County District
School Board and the
Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board and their spouses. These
retirement benefits
were part of
contracts covering the retirees who paid their dues throughout their
working lives and retired based on the understanding that they would
have health and dental
benefits for the remainder of their lives. These workers operated on
the basis that contracts agreed to with the two school boards dating as
far back as the 1960s
would be honoured, and planned their lives accordingly.
Now the government claims that by throwing retirees
under the bus they are actually upholding the Education Act!
This is a fraud. The
Liberals are throwing retirees under the bus because they see them as a
"cost" that must be eliminated.
According to the Liberals' notion of fairness and
balance it is acceptable to throw retirees and their families' lives
into chaos and uncertainty in order to remove millions from education
so that it can be handed over to the
moneylenders and other private monopolies. Clearly the government's
repeal of
Bill 115 and selection
of a new Premier as a "reset" was meant to try and divert attention
from the new attacks which are now being rolled out on the most
vulnerable.
Everyone should stand with the affected retirees and
their families and demand that governments defend public right.
Governments cannot be permitted
to renege on their responsibility to the older generation, whether it
be on pensions, benefits or any other matter. Being able to retire with
dignity is a right!
Government Orders School Boards to Cut
Benefits for Retirees Over 65
The government has decided to interpret a little known
provision in the Education Act to justify eliminating any
form of school board-paid
benefits for retirees over 65 by August 2014. The
provision in the Act deals with employee benefits and states that a
board "may retain the
person [retiree] in a group established for the purpose of a [health
insurance] contract referred to in clause (1) (a) until the person
reaches 65 years of age."
The ambiguity of the Act, which does not expressly
prohibit the provision of post-retirement benefits after 65 years of
age, is being used by the Minister
of Education to invoke her prerogative powers to specifically target a
group of retirees in two boards in the province who had negotiated
retirement benefits
past 65 years, as a step towards attacking all teachers' and education
workers' benefits. This is made clear when one considers that in
addition to retirees, any current
employees in line for post-retirement benefits because of negotiated
provisions in their collective agreements, or terms and conditions of
their individual
employment contracts in the case of non-union employees, will only
receive those benefits -- which in no case will extend beyond age 65 --
if they retire before
September 1, 2013. As of that date, school boards will not be permitted
to contribute to post-retirement benefits for any new retirees.
This ruling reflects a provision contained in the
Memorandum of Understanding between the government and the Ontario
English Catholic Teachers'
Association that was eventually imposed on all other teachers and
education workers and the entire education sector. It is also said to
be the reason for an
unusually high number of directors and superintendents of education (12
of the province's 72 directors so far) announcing they will be retiring
as of August
31, 2013 -- which some say will deprive local school districts of
experienced leadership. This is taking place at a time when the
government is putting in place
arrangements of all kinds to centralize control over education in its
own hands, undermining the authority of school boards.
The unilateral "phasing out" of
existing post-retirement benefits will free up $290 million next year
and $43 million a year after that.
This money that is being taken away from retirees and future retirees
will
no doubt end up in the pockets of the moneylenders that hold Ontario's
debt and deficit.
Active and Retired Workers in Windsor-Essex
Respond to Government Attack
On April 15 both the Greater Essex County District
School Board and the Windsor Essex Catholic District Board issued
statements announcing they had
been specifically ordered by the Ministry of Education to stop paying
benefits by August 2014 to a group of retirees over 65 years of age,
despite their being
guaranteed these benefits in certain collective agreements and employee
contracts.
Reportedly these two boards
are the only ones across the
province to have such an arrangement. August 2014 happens to be when
collective non-agreements
imposed on teachers and education workers across the province expire,
signaling that government dictate will again be the name of the game in
the next round
of negotiations.
The public board said 312 of its retirees, mainly former
unionized maintenance employees, custodians and skilled tradespeople,
along with some non-union
central office staff and senior administrators older than 65, would be
affected. The Catholic board said 258 of its retirees, many of them
also former custodial
and maintenance employees, stand to lose health and dental benefits
they and their spouses are receiving.
Workers, their family members and supporters are
responding to the government order on the basis of defending the
dignity of retirees. CAW Local 2438
president Bruce Dickie, who represents many of the affected Catholic
board retirees, said his members were "livid." He called the province's
latest imposition
"outrageous," saying, "Forty-five years we've been bargaining those
benefits. They can't tell us they're illegal, because the Education
Ministry, every single
minister of education, has approved [the school boards'] budgets with
those benefits in there." Some of the retirees losing their benefits
included Second World
War veterans and widows, people in their 80s and 90s getting $300 or
$400 a month from their pensions, he said.
 On April 20 CUPE Local 27
held an information meeting
for their affected retirees. At the meeting, one retired maintenance
worker conveyed the vicious nature of
the attack to the local media and the story has been gaining attention.
He explained that under their collective agreement, custodians and
maintenance workers
who retired before age 65 were required to pay the full cost of their
benefits (the board's share as well as their own share of the premiums)
until their 65th
birthday to be eligible to receive board-paid retirement
benefits from that point on. Since retiring four years ago after
putting in
over 40 years with
the public board as a member of CUPE Local 27 he has paid over $20,000
from his own pocket to maintain his health and dental
benefits in order to receive the board-paid retirement benefits he was
promised upon turning 65.
On April 22 at the Annual General Meeting of the Greater
Essex Unit of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, a
presentation was made from
the floor about the retirees' situation. A resolution was then
forwarded
from the AGM to the local executive to express the full support of the
elementary teachers
for the retirees and oppose the removal of their benefits.
The two Windsor area boards alone will reportedly be
able to free up $70 million "to help the Catholic Board out of its
deficit problems and help prevent
the public board from ending up in a deficit" as Education Minister Liz
Sandals put it, and "allow them to focus on providing programs for
students."
This insidious attempt to pit workers -- active and
retired -- against "the students" appeared many times in media reports
on the story. The fact the retirees
in question were mainly support staff whose unions were able to
negotiate those benefits years ago to afford them some security in
retirement in exchange for
lower wage increases at the time was overshadowed by sensational
stories about "ill-gotten benefits" that came at the expense of
taxpayers and
school children. Catholic Board Director Paul Picard is quoted as
saying, "It was going to cost almost $200 a student per year for the
next 10 years. By comparison, the
retirement benefit costs for other boards that only provide benefits
for retirees up to age 65 amount to $13 or $14 per student."
The fact that the two Windsor-area boards were providing
certain employee groups post-retirement benefits until death was
reportedly brought to the attention
of the government after a financial audit was conducted by the
government-imposed supervisor of the Catholic Board charged with trying
to find ways to cut
the Board's spending to reduce its deficit.
Excerpts from Education
Act Concerning
Retirement Benefits
Insurance for employees
177. (1) Subject to the Health Insurance Act, a board by
resolution may provide,
(a) by contract either with an insurer licensed under
the Insurance Act or with an association registered under the Prepaid
Hospital and Medical Services
Act,
(i) group life insurance for
its employees or any class thereof and their spouses and children,
(ii) group accident
insurance or group sickness insurance for its employees or any class
thereof and their spouses and children, and
(iii) hospital, medical,
surgical, nursing or dental services, or payment therefor, for
employees or any class thereof and their spouses and children; and
(b) for payment by the board of the whole or part of the
cost of any insurance or services provided under this subsection.
R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2, s. 177 (1);
1999, c. 6, s. 20 (4); 2005, c. 5, s. 21 (7).
Contributions re insured services
(2) A board may by resolution provide for paying the
whole or part of the cost to employees of insured services under the Health Insurance Act.
R.S.O.
1990, c. E.2, s. 177 (2).
Coverage for retired persons
(3) If a person retires from employment with a board
before he or she reaches 65 years of age, the board may retain the
person in a group established for
the purpose of a contract referred to in clause (1) (a) until the
person reaches 65 years of age. 1994, c. 27, s. 108 (7).
Payment of premium
(4) If a person is retained in a group under subsection
(3), the premium required to be paid to maintain the person's
participation in the contract may be
paid, in whole or in part, by the person or by the board. 1994, c. 27,
s. 108 (7).
Coming
Events
April 28 Day of Mourning for Workers
Killed or Injured
on the Job
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