Negotiations in K-12 Education in Ontario
Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Teachers' Federation
From August 20-21, the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Ontario Teachers' Federation (OTF) will take place at the Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto, Ontario. The Board of Governors is made up of executives and elected Governors from each of the affiliated unions of the OTF which represent all teachers employed in the publicly funded education system in Ontario as well as certain designated private schools or designated organizations. The OTF was established by the government of Ontario's Teaching Profession Act. According to the Act the purposes of the Federation are:
a) to promote and advance the cause of education;
b) to raise the status of the teaching profession;
c) to promote and advance the interests of teachers and to secure conditions that will make possible the best professional service;
d) to arouse and increase public interest in educational affairs;
e) to cooperate with other teachers' organizations throughout the world having the same or like objects; and
f) to represent all members of the pension plan established under the Teachers' Pension Act in the administration of the plan and the management of the pension fund.
All teachers employed by a school board or one of the designated entities in Ontario are members of the OTF and pay an annual membership fee for its operations. The OTF plays an important role of bringing together the members of all its affiliated unions to discuss common concerns and work together on shared matters such as the state of education and the investments of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
This
year the OTF annual meeting will take place in the context of the
refusal of the Ontario government to negotiate with Ontario's teachers
and education workers and instead to make significant changes to the
system arbitrarily through legislation and regulations. This includes
changes to the
powers and duties of school boards, the context of education and high
school graduation requirements. Contracts with the province's teachers
and education workers expired August 31, 2022 and they have been
working under the provisions of their expired collective agreements
since that time. To
date negotiations have been proceeding at a snail's pace as a result of
the refusal of the government to address the fundamental issues of
underfunding of education and the resulting deterioration of working
and learning conditions in schools, as well as its dictate of changes
to the system as a
whole.
Only education workers in CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions have come to an agreement with the province following their political protests in November which forced the government to back down on its dictate and attempt to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Constitution to impose a contract through legislation without the workers' agreement. At this point the unions still involved in central negotiations with the government have not taken strike votes which would put them in a position to carry out strike action. Occurring just two weeks before the scheduled start of school, the meeting will be an opportunity for the OTF affiliate unions to put in place arrangements to prevent their ranks from being divided in the coming year as the government will no doubt attempt to pit one section of teachers against another to avoid facing a united front of teachers and education workers in these negotiations like it faced during the successful CUPE strike.
Another significant matter of concern of affiliate unions and members of the OTF across Ontario is the investments of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund in Stone Canyon Industries Holdings Inc. All four teaching affiliates in Windsor-Essex and all the provincial Presidents of the teaching affiliates have raised the matter with the Pension Plan and have either been ignored or received justifications for why the Plan cannot do anything. One of the objectives of the Federation, as defined in the law which established it, is "to represent all members of the pension plan established under the Teachers' Pension Act in the administration of the plan and the management of the pension fund." Additionally, the same Act mandates that "the Board of Governors shall meet annually and confer with the Minister and the senior officials of the Ministry on matters touching and concerning the objects of the Federation."
The Ministry of Education along with the OTF as joint sponsors appoint representatives to oversee the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. As such, the issue of the fund's investments in a U.S. holding company engaged in union-busting across Canada and refusing to negotiate is an issue the Federation is duty-bound to address with the Pension Plan and the Ontario government, both in terms of the demands of the affiliate members and the Plan's own mandate. By taking this matter up at its AGM the OTF will also be making it clear to the Ford government that whether it concerns its own members or other workers, the OTF stands opposed to attempts to dictate and weaken unions that defend their members' working conditions, which are the learning and living conditions of the entire society.
This article was published in
Number 38 - July 19, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10383.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca