Teacher lockout continues
Lengthy negotiations end in impasse
Hopes for a quick ending to the lockout of teachers at Niagara’s Catholic elementary schools were dashed Tuesday.
Despite around-the-clock negotiations to end the lockout, which began Monday morning, talks were suspended early Tuesday, ending more than 39 hours of talks which lasted from Sunday at 10 a.m. until Tuesday at 1:30 a.m.
And instead of educating about 14,700 students from across the region, roughly 800 teachers from elementary schools will continue to carry picket signs.
Niagara Catholic District School Board board chair Rev. Paul MacNeil said tremendous progress was made during the lengthy and stressful meeting, and negotiators “just nailed so many issues through really good dialogue.”
But one issue — regarding grievance procedures and communication between teachers, union representatives and trustees — remained unresolved, leading to the continued lockout, he said.
“This is just breaking my heart,” said MacNeil, who said he attended part of the meeting in support of the negotiating teams. “We’ve worked very hard to get as far as we have. I’m proud of everyone for doing it. We just have that little bit more to go.”
In an email sent on Tuesday, Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) Niagara Elementary Unit president Marie Balanowski said teachers were willing to do what was necessary to end the lockout and return to the classroom, but the board has refused.
“We offered to go to binding arbitration which would immediately end our work-to-rule sanctions and the board’s lockout, but the Niagara Catholic District School Board rejected that offer,” Balanowski said.
“The board could have agreed to binding arbitration this morning, but chose instead to punish teachers and students by continuing the lockout.”
In a media release, the union said teachers will likely end up at binding arbitration anyway, “but not until students and families have been forced to endure a lengthy disruption.”
The union said its offer of voluntary binding arbitration remains open, if board members change their minds.
No dates have been set to resume negotiations.
MacNeil said the board opted against binding arbitration, believing instead a resolution could be reached locally.
Although wages paid to teachers was already determined through contract negotiations with the province, locally the two sides have already resolved several issues that were previously identified as stumbling blocks, such as procedures for filling vacancies at schools, as well as the reporting of student progress to parents.
Based on that earlier success, MacNeil was confident an agreement could be reached locally regarding the remaining issue, too.
“We don’t see any reason why we can’t resolve this between us sitting down, without having to go to binding arbitration,” he said.
“It’s an important issue obviously, but we’re there. We want to resolve this locally. We’re open to it.”
MacNeil said the issue is about “how teachers respond to a grievance that they feel violates a collective agreement, and what the trustee’s role is.”
And the procedure the board hopes to implement is “a very beautiful solution” that has been adopted by OECTA Niagara Secondary Unit.
“We sit down and talk openly, informally, with trustees, with senior staff, with someone from the union,” he explained.
“I’ve been in one of the con- versations and it’s absolutely amazing … It kind of baffles us as to why that solution wouldn’t be acceptable to the union, and there’s nothing in their at all about being able to access trustees.”
MacNeil hopes to return to the table as soon as possible.
An update on negotiations posted on the school board’s website, niagaracatholic.ca, said schools will remain open and “every effort will be made to ensure students are in a safe environment.”
Although curriculum-based programming will not be taught during the lockout, the update said principals and available staff will organize programs for students, to the best of their abilities.
School buses will also be running, although they may be delayed as they enter school property.
The board’s update also warned that people entering school property may encounter “picket delays.”
“Should you encounter an unsafe or intimidating delay, we encourage you to respond calmly and notify the school principal,” the update suggested.
NCDSB is the only Catholic board in the province that has yet to reach an agreement with its elementary teachers.