Proposal for Binding Arbitration in Ontario K-12 Education
An Advance Can Be Made by Holding Government to Account for Its Corruption
Ontario teachers and education workers who are members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) are discussing a proposal from their union and the Ford government to go to binding interest arbitration to settle the impasse in negotiations. Voting on the proposal closes on September 27.
The union's main argument to its members has been that as a result of the Greenbelt scandal the government is on its back foot and has come to the table to agree to this process without any "poison pills" and that this is a way forward given these unique circumstances. In fact, since the proposal was released, the Greenbelt scandal has developed further. Following the resignation of Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Steve Clark on September 4, a second minister in the Ford cabinet resigned September 20 after revelations of his having misinformed the Integrity Commissioner about a trip he and Ford's director of housing policy took to Las Vegas that coincided with that of a real estate developer whose lands were removed from protection from development in the Greenbelt. The policy director has also resigned. Since then, on September 21, Premier Ford was forced to publicly announce that it was a mistake to have broken his promise not to open up the Greenbelt to development and said that he is reversing course.
On September 22, Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, became the third member of Ford's cabinet to resign, announcing he was stepping down from his cabinet duties "effective immediately," and would be resigning his seat in the coming days. He claimed his decision was a career move "completely unrelated" to "recent events." Ford has now lost three cabinet ministers and had to shuffle his cabinet twice in a matter of weeks.
Whatever
one thinks of this scandal or of the proposal put to OSSTF members that
they agree to go to binding arbitration, clearly the Ford government
has shown that it is corrupt because of how it's ministers and senior
officials have conducted themselves and are now forced to resign. More
revelations are sure to
surface in
the coming period. Ford's claim that it was a "mistake" to break a
commitment he made not to open up protected Greenbelt lands for real
estate development is to hide the corruption involved in the affair and
to present it as an error in judgement.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The scandal reveals the way governments in the service of the rich act. Private interests have taken control of decision-making at every level. Seriously affecting public K-12 education, the Ford government's Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023 gives the Minister of Education control over the lands held by school boards and requires the minister's approval for land purchases or sales. This gives the minister direct control over real estate holdings in cities, towns, and villages across Ontario. It also gives the minister new powers to set provincial priorities in education that school boards are required to comply with or face penalties or dissolution.
The Minister of Education can now arbitrarily determine when curricula should be reviewed and require revisions to "meet labour market needs" without the involvement of educators. The act sets out changes in education that will have students able to leave school after grade 11 and enter the workforce to meet labour market needs. It also gives the minister direct control over other infrastructure acquisitions by school boards that it can use to dictate province-wide contracts for technology, which are, in turn, used to hand over public funds to tech giants.
Other ways the government is using K-12 education to direct public funds into private coffers includes requiring all students to take an online course to graduate. The overall degradation of conditions in public schools is another factor which encourages parents to opt to send their children to institutions which provide private education and for tutoring -- some of it funded by vouchers from the government. The media do not bring these matters to light because they do not discuss the working conditions of teachers and education staff and the plight of public education or its necessity in a modern society.
The
teachers' and education workers' working conditions are the students'
learning conditions. It is obvious that a society in transition as a
result of the achievements of the scientific and technical revolution
requires a system of education that meets its needs. That is not the
point when the
teachers oppose the changes being imposed. The need for changes is a
fact BUT this does not mean that narrow private interests should be in
charge of decision-making. It does not mean that the direction of the
economy should serve narrow private interests for more and more
profits, rather than
nation-building. It does not mean that the dignity of labour must be
trampled or that the working people from at home and abroad are
disposable. It does not mean that young people with an inadequate
education should be thrown into the labour market, to be replaced
whenever they get injured or are
not suitable to those who consider labour a cost of production, not a
valuable asset as the human productive force that creates all the
wealth societies depend on for their living.
Teachers and education workers are demanding changes that serve the people at home and abroad to humanize the natural and social environment. Teachers and education workers are among the very best assets society has and they must be treated with dignity and given the full backing of the state to support the important work they do.
As for its corruption, the Ford government should not be permitted to get away with the claim that the corruption related to the Greenbelt Scandal -- the release of protected lands to real estate developers -- is an exception. Far from it, it is the rule. So too, it must not get away with trampling treaty rights of the Indigenous Peoples.
When it comes to considering what the government is doing in the field of education, it must not be given a pass based on this apparent about face whereby the Premier says that breaking his promise not to get rid of the Greenbelt was wrong. The only regret the Premier has is that he was caught. He cannot be given a pass for his years of destruction of the system of public education which he has continued from those who preceded him.
What
is the need of the education unions to go to binding interest
arbitration? They should stick to their demand that the government
bargain in good faith and provide the teachers and education workers
with the wages and working conditions they are demanding. That is the
only way that they can
empower themselves and keep the initiative in their own hands in the
circumstances where the government is duplicitous about everything it
does. The Greenbelt is but one example which shows governments taken
over by narrow private interests are corrupt and not trustworthy. The
government has
everything to hide, while teachers and education workers have much to
gain by speaking with one voice for their demands for increased
investments in public education. These are investments in the youth and
the present and future of society.
By OSSTF members voting now to reject the proposal to submit to binding arbitration to settle their contracts, the message is delivered loud and clear that the government must negotiate properly, not dictate. It must respect teachers and education workers or face the consequences of their fury in the form of the withdrawal of their labour. The teachers and education workers need higher wages and remedial action to improve working conditions. A strong No vote to voluntary binding interest arbitration makes a statement that teachers and education workers want the government to sit down and negotiate in good faith all matters of concern to teachers and education workers and do so in a manner that benefits public education and those who provide it, not self-serving private interests.
This article was published in
Number 54 - September 27, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10541.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca