Union says teachers’ contract talks stalled over dispute with school boards

TORONTO — Contract talks between Ontario’s high school teachers, the province and its public school boards have stalled before they’ve even begun, says the union representing teachers.

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation president Harvey Bischof said the school boards want too many issues bargained at the central table, which will slow down talks. Those discussions, the union argues, should be dealt with in local talks.

The dispute will now need to be settled by the province’s labour board on Aug. 22, with a decision expected in September.

“We believe that the only things that should be bargained centrally are essentially big ticket items, big cost items like salaries, like the cost of health and dental benefits, like staffing,” he said. “The rest of it should be left to local school boards to negotiate.”

Contracts for teachers and education workers at the province’s publicly funded schools expire at the end of August and the Progressive Conservative government had said it wanted to start negotiations early.

This round of negotiations is expected to be difficult and unions and school boards have criticized the government’s recent moves to increase class sizes for Grade 4 and higher, mandate e-learning courses and reduce per-student funding to boards.

The moves are part of the government’s efforts to constrain public sector wage increases as it tries to eliminate an $11.7-billion deficit.

Bischof said the government has delayed discussions at multiple points and refused to follow the union’s advice to streamline the process, preventing the parties from reaching a deal before the new school year.

“Had they followed the steps we recommended, maybe we could have gotten there,” he said. “Now, there’s absolutely no way. What it means is we’ll begin the new school year under the terms and conditions of the old collective agreement.”