Teacher payouts from province could top $3,000

Ontario’s public high school teachers are in line for a cash bonanza of as much as $3,000 each after a settlement with the Liberal government, which five years ago violated their constitutional rights by imposing a contract on them, the Toronto Star has learned.

The agreement is an expensive legal lesson from the final years of former premier Dalton McGuinty, who triggered a fight with teacher unions in 2012 during an austerity push.

While Premier Kathleen Wynne repealed the law after taking over in 2013, the unions continued their legal battle with Queen’s Park.

Under the terms of the settlement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, which is worth tens of millions of dollars, teachers will get a lumpsum payment — receiving either $500 or $1,000 each — to make up for ending the practice that allowed them to bank unused sick days and cash them out at retirement.

However, in addition, fulltime teachers could receive as much as $2,000 each for “the impact resulting from the delay in grid movement” in 2012 and 2013, which put off automatic salary increases for roughly three months in each of those school years in order for the government to save money at that time, sources also said.

The agreement also provides an extra paid day off that will be covered by a supply teacher, who typically earn $250 a day — which in the province’s biggest boards could cost more than $1 million dollars.

The government must also cover the OSSTF’s legal fees.

Similar agreements still have to be worked out with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which will substantially push up the price tag of the labour dispute.

The sick-day payout alone for the high school teachers will cost $25 million. The court documents only say “an amount” will be provided for the salary grid payment — at “half the impact on that member” — and there is no estimate of the cost of the day off.

“As discussions with other applicant unions are ongoing and the matter remains before the courts, we can’t speak to the specifics at this time,” said Richard Francella, spokesperson for Education Minister Mitzie Hunter.

The agreement is the “remedy” urged by the court after it found the government had breached the unions’ Charter rights back in 2012 by temporarily stripping teachers and support staff of their right to collective bargaining under the Putting Students First Act. Bill 115 also froze their wages, cut their sick days and affected their ability to strike.

The government had argued it was forced to impose the legislation because the teacher unions had walked away from talks. Teachers responded by boycotting extracurricular activities, and elementary teachers took part in rotating, one-day strikes in boards across the province.

Last year, Ontario Superior Court Judge Thomas Lederer ruled the government had “substantially interfered” with negotiations, and encouraged both sides to come to come to a resolution instead of the court having to impose one.

At the time, Sam Hammond of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said the ruling was “an absolute vindication for our members.”

“Whatever the costs — as I said a long time ago — the Liberals should have thought of that at the time,” he also said.

News of the legal remedy came about as the Ontario government sought to extend teachers’ contracts by two years to 2019, as a way to keep labour peace past the next election.