President's Memo

January 3, 2005

1. Hard copies of the President's Message below are being sent through the courier to worksites. It is very important that this information be brought to the attention of OSSTF members at your worksite as soon as possible.
2. A new taxation year has begun. Members whose annual salary is greater than $39,000 will notice that their pay cheques are somewhat smaller than they were prior to Christmas because EI and CPP deductions will begin again on the January pay cheques for the 2005 taxation year. EI deductions are 1.95% of gross income and CPP deductions are 4.95% of gross income. Further information about deductions can be found at TBU pay stub pamphlet. (Note: Some of the category descriptions may be slightly different for other bargaining units.)
3. The College of Teachers fee for 2005 ($104) will be deducted from the January 21 pay cheque for TBU members. TBU members on leave, CET members and Occasional Teachers must pay the fee directly to the College of Teachers. See http://www.osstf11.com/EMO3-2-2005OCTfee.htm for more information.
4. TBU members who have been notified that they qualify for an RRSP contribution from the Board but who have not yet faxed back their signed form to Mary Lou Cunningham should do so IMMEDIATELY. Members who do not return the signed form by FEB. 3, 2005 will not receive a deposit in February 2005.
5. Please watch for details concerning fund-raising for South Asian disaster relief. We are in the process of consulting with the provincial office and the board in order to coordinate efforts.

President’s Message

Welcome back! I hope that you enjoyed a restful and enjoyable holiday break with family and friends.

As you are aware from the Staffroom Rap that was faxed to workplaces by the Provincial Office on December 15, there was a flurry of activity at the provincial level that may well have an impact on local negotiations across the province.

The purpose of this newsletter is to bring you up to date on further developments since that Staffroom Rap.

On December 15, tory MPP Frank Klees accused Minister of Education Gerard Kennedy of interfering with local bargaining by writing letters to Directors, School Board Chairs, and Federation Presidents about negotiations, and took him to task for suggesting that two or four year contracts be negotiated when existing legislation only allows for three year contracts. In other words, he is accusing Kennedy of counselling negotiators to break the law.

The very next day, the Minister of Education introduced Bill 167, “Education Amendment Act, 2004” in order to require two or four year contracts. The reason for this is fairly obvious: three year contracts would expire just before the next provincial election, whereas four year contracts would end AFTER the next election, and 2 year contracts would have to be renegotiated for two or four years, again timing them for after the next election.

In addition, this proposed legislation will also prevent negotiators from negotiating contracts one year at a time by extending them as “interim agreements”, as we did when the tories first passed the three year term legislation. Bill 167 dictates that one year contracts will automatically be two year contracts and that three year contracts will automatically be four year contracts.

OSSTF consistently leads the province with the best collective agreements and the most creative solutions to roadblocks placed in front of education unions by successive governments. We are where we are today in terms of salary and working conditions because we have an excellent Protective Services Department–our negotiators and provincial CBC Committee are very knowledgeable and skilled.

It is also clear that it is OSSTF which sets the bar because the only agreements in teachers’ bargaining units that have come in so far for this year are in AEFO and in OECTA and in all of those cases, the contracts have brought those bargaining units to parity with OSSTF as of August 31 and then bumped their salaries on September 1 by the Liberal dictated 2% for 04-05.

It is no stretch to understand that this could bode ill for OSSTF bargaining units if we do not have an effective and decisive response.

OSSTF’s message, locally and provincially, to the Minister of Education and to all Liberal MPPs has been very consistent ever since they were elected: for peace and stability in education, the government must implement Rozanski’s recommendations, most particularly those pertaining to the Foundation Grant, repeal or eliminate the workload constraints in Regulation 274, and allow local collective bargaining to proceed unimpeded in order to meet local needs.

The Minister of Education’s attempt to micromanage salary and workload provisions is completely unacceptable and must be resisted. Upon receiving the Minister’s letter to local Presidents, I responded immediately expressing my very great disappointment with the government. My letter is on the back of this memo.

It is for this reason that OSSTF has filed an unfair labour practices complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board against the Minister of Education. In addition, the Provincial Executive has called the Presidents and Chief Negotiators of all bargaining units to Toronto for a meeting on Wednesday January 5.

The four bargaining units of District 11 will be well-represented at this meeting and we will send follow-up communication to you as soon as possible afterwards.

Text of District President's Response to Minister of Education Gerard Kennedy

December 3, 2004

Honourable Gerard Kennedy
Ministry of Education
900 Bay Street, 22nd Floor, Mowat Block
Toronto, ON
M7A 1L2

Dear Mr. Kennedy,

Our provincial office provided us with your letter to OSSTF President Rhonda Kimberley-Young and to the school board Directors and Chairs. These alone caused me very great concern, but when I received the letter yesterday addressed to me as the local OSSTF president, I became angry. I consider all of this communication as an attempt to interfere in local collective bargaining and I am very troubled by this and very, very disappointed in you.

Despite your protestations to the contrary, you do indeed appear to be attempting to set the stage for provincial bargaining and I, for one, am vehemently opposed to this. You say, “The goal would be only to determine a clear Ministry position that could support successful local bargaining,” but you hardly need to call the federations and trustee associations together to do that. You need only to provide adequate funding as per Rozanski’s recommendations, repeal Regulation 274, and allow the local bargaining process to proceed without provincial interference.

The only way that “local bargaining may well run into conflict over issues that can’t be adequately resolved at that level” would be if the Liberal government fails to provide the funding local boards desperately need, as advised by Rozanski. I am getting increasingly annoyed with the Liberals’ continued misrepresentation of the funding that they have provided to boards as “implementing 82% of Rozanski” because nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of allocating funding where it is most needed–in the Foundation Grant–you have thrown money at “feel good photo-op” programs, many of which were not even mentioned by Rozanski!

I can’t begin to describe my deepening dismay as I read your letter to the Board Chairs and Directors. That you think that these proposals somehow support respect for teachers and education workers and a “foundation for long-term peace and stability” only shows how very little you and the Liberal Party understand OSSTF and the local collective bargaining process.

You end your letter by requesting that “teacher organizations obtain permission from their local...units to voluntarily enter into time-limited discussion with the Ministry about these issues.” At this point, I see nothing in your proposals to compel me to grant such permission, and much to be apprehensive about. I have serious reservations that any of your suggestions would be of benefit to OSSTF and, in fact, these letters indicate a profound lack of respect for the OSSTF and for the collective bargaining process.

Despite early signs that the Liberal government would keep its promises to Ontario teachers, the reprehensible private school tax credit and the senior education tax credit having been quickly cancelled, progress has ground to a standstill–the most important Rozanski recommendations regarding the Foundation Grant have been ignored, Regulation 274 is still on the books, the Ontario College of Teachers has yet to be restructured so that it has a majority of classroom teachers on the governing council, and now you are attempting to interfere in the collective bargaining process!

I supported the Liberal Party in the last election, both by donations of money and time, but I am beginning to have serious regrets about having done so.

Sincerely yours,
Wendy Anes Hirschegger
President, OSSTF District 11 - Thames Valley

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