TORONTO - The devil is in the details as far as Catholic school boards are concerned when it comes to side-stepping strikes and lockouts.
The Putting Students First Act, the Liberal government鱿鱼视频app legislation to freeze teacher salaries, will require Catholic schools to operate by a different, more restrictive, set of rules than the province鱿鱼视频app public boards. And that has the Ontario Catholic School Trustees鈥� Association (OCSTA) up in arms.
Catholic boards will continue to be bound by the deal struck in July between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers鈥� Association (OECTA) and the Ministry of Education, even though the government legislation has backtracked on some key provisions contained in that agreement.
To get the Conservatives on side with Putting Students First, Dalton McGuinty鱿鱼视频app Liberals had to remove controversial clauses that would have stripped school boards of some rights related to the hiring of permanent teachers and managerial oversight of diagnostic testing. Public boards will now be able to negotiate locally with teachers on those contentious issues, while the trustees from Ontario鱿鱼视频app 29 Catholic boards are stuck with the deal the government negotiated with OECTA.
鈥淭he effect of these changes are in fact no change at all,鈥� said Bob Murray, the OCSTA鱿鱼视频app director of legislative and political affairs. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app subverting the role of trustees.鈥�
The OECTA deal leaves virtually no room for local collective bargaining because all the substantive issues were settled without input from the province鱿鱼视频app trustees.
鈥淯nder the proposed legislation no local collective bargaining will happen,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app an agreement that local trustees never agreed to.鈥�
On July 4, following six months of unsuccessful bargaining, the Catholic trustees walked away from the table. That left the government and OECTA to strike a deal that imposed a two-year wage freeze, a reduction in sick days from 20 to 10, and elimination of the right to bank sick days until retirement. But the deal also gave the union greater input in hiring permanent teachers and some control over diagnostic testing.
鈥淲e said from the beginning that Ontario has a problem fiscally and something had to be done and we were willing to help out,鈥� said Marino Gazzola, president of OCSTA.
鈥淚 think our concerns are the same now as they were before any proposed changes.鈥�
He said that in negotiations with the government, OCSTA has consistently opposed ceding rights to the union on the issues of hiring and diagnostic testing. He said it鱿鱼视频app not for him to say if the Liberals finally changed their position due to pressure from the Conservatives.
鈥淚f I had the answer to that I would probably be a millionaire,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been voicing these concerns all along and we鈥檝e been firm in our position and we鈥檝e been strong and consistent in our position.鈥�
Those concerns were that provisions surrounding the hiring practices and diagnostic testing removed managerial rights and significant checks and balances from the boards. Under the changes, the trustees believe hiring now gives seniority greater weight than overall qualification, while granting teachers control of diagnostic testing gives them the ability to hide under-performing students.
鈥淎ll students in Ontario should be able to receive an education from the most qualified teachers and benefit from the insight gained from the use of system-wide diagnostic tests that include parents,鈥� said Gazzola. 鈥淪chool boards in this province have serious concerns about the proposed legislation.鈥�
OCSTA was surprised to learn that the amendments to Putting Students First would not apply to the Catholic boards. They are now calling for additional revisions to essentially veto the controversial areas of the OECTA agreement so that Catholic boards have the same ability as public boards to negotiate locally with teacher unions.
鈥淭his legislation will create inequity in our system,鈥� said Gazzola. 鈥淲e urgently call on your government to amend the legislation to honestly reflect the changes proposed by the opposition.鈥�