President's Memo

January 10, 2005

President’s Message

The meeting of Presidents and Chief Negotiators on January 5 in Toronto was attended by these District 11 leaders:
•Wendy Anes Hirschegger (District/TBU President),
•John Bernans (TBU Chief Negotiator),
•Joe Wilson (OT President)
• Sandra Miller (PSSP Vice-President)
•Craig Read (PSSP Chief Negotiator)
•Barbara O’Brien (CEI President and Chief Negotiator)
•Nancy McDougall (PSSP Sector Council Chair)

The Provincial Executive and the Protective Services Department took us through a wide variety of material:
•an update on the political situation
•an update on the Labour Board complaint filed against Gerard Kennedy
•an update on Bill 167 and its potential impact on Teacher negotiations (it doesn’t affect non-Teacher bargaining units)
•an update on communication with the government relating to lobbying and pre-conditions for accepting an invitation from the Minister of Education to attend a Roundtable Discussion
•provincial coordination of bargaining within districts and among bargaining units

Once the presentation of all of this information had been made, there was a question-answer session.

Each District and Bargaining Unit was then asked to bring this information back to their own constituents.

To plan for this task, the Executives of the District and all four Bargaining Units as well as the Collective Bargaining Committees of all four Bargaining Units are being called to a meeting on Tuesday January 18 at 4:00pm.

At present, of the four Bargaining Units, three have been without a contract since August 31, 2004. The PSSP contract is in effect until August 31, 2005. The Teachers’ Bargaining Unit and the Continuing Education Instructors’ Bargaining Unit have been in active negotiations throughout the fall. The Occasional Teachers’ and Continuing Education Teachers’ agreements are being negotiated together with the Teachers’ Bargaining Unit.

Following the January 18 meeting, the District Office staff will make arrangements for meetings with the membership at branches / worksites in order to share this information.

The media release from the Provincial Office is on the reverse. As was the case two years ago, it is time to step up the pressure in order be able to achieve good, locally-negotiated collective agreements. The provincial government needs to realize that for “peace and stability”, they need to “address the funding and legislative restraints that are preventing settlements.”

Sadly, this government, which purports to respect teachers and education workers and to want “peace and stability,” has failed, so far, to put in place the measures needed to ensure this and is starting to play “hard ball” just as their predecessors did.

We will keep you posted as further developments occur.

Text of Provincial Media Release (January 5, 2005)

Negotiations at a standstill
Local leaders give provincial leadership clear message

(Toronto) - Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) local leaders and chief negotiators attended a special meeting regarding negotiations for the renewal of all teacher agreements and the majority of its support staff agreements on Wednesday, January 5, 2005 at the Wyndham Bristol Place, Toronto Airport. Local presidents and chief negotiators were convened to this meeting with the provincial executive and staff to
discuss the challenges faced in this current round of bargaining for the renewal of collective agreements that
expired on August 31, 2004.

While OSSTF’s goal has been to negotiate collective agreements for all its members working in school boards across the province, it has been hampered in its efforts by current funding and legislative constraints. OSSTF has reached only a handful of agreements for its support staff bargaining units and no agreements for its secondary school teachers. OSSTF has made the government aware of the challenges encountered at local bargaining tables and is hopeful that through direct discussions with the government some of the hurdles faced can be overcome.

“Bringing all of our local leaders in for a meeting on the status of bargaining and the challenges that we face on the road ahead allows us to take active steps towards greater provincial coordination of bargaining in the hope of concluding agreements in the near future,” said Rhonda Kimberley-Young, OSSTF President.

“OSSTF local leaders sent their provincial leadership a clear message at today’s meeting that they are impatient and frustrated and demonstrated a desire for a coordinated approach to reach fair agreements,” she continued. “They recognize that, after half a school year with no contract and none in sight, the government needs to address the funding and legislative constraints that are preventing settlements.

“School boards have been slow to bargain because of the constraints they have both in terms of funding and legislation. Clearly OSSTF needs to increase pressure at the bargaining tables to let the government know that if they want peace and stability they have to respect the bargaining process and address the real challenges in education bargaining,” concluded Kimberley-Young.

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Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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