YORK TEACHERS TAKE DEAL
Hudak mulling support for Mcguinty’s drive to freeze teacher pay
Liberals’ goal of curbing wages receives big boost from Catholic school board,
The Liberal government’s push to curb teacher wages gained momentum Wednesday as the York Catholic school board signed on and the Progressive Conservatives signalled they’d back a wage freeze bill with more “teeth.”
“If they put half a loaf on the table, I’m inclined to take that,” Tory Leader Tim Hudak said, vowing to continue pressing for a law freezing the wages of all public sector workers as Ontario fights a $15-billion deficit. “I think there’s a better way.”
Education Minister Laurel Broten said the co-operative tone is “not something we have seen before” but she was “encouraged” by Hudak’s response after the Conserva- tives had been non-committal since she made her bill public last Thursday.
Broten added it’s “very good news” the huge York District Catholic School Board has become the second board in the province — after the Toronto Catholic District School Board — to agree to a wage freeze deal the province reached weeks ago with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and francophone teachers.
The pact was approved despite concerns about terms that include giving teachers the power to decide which diagnostic tests students are given and how often during the school year, said York board chair Elizabeth Crowe.
“We felt that there was a lot of stress in the system, and uncertainty, even with the (proposed) legislation,” Crowe told the Star.
“We didn’t want that cloud hanging over the first day of school. Teachers who aren’t stressed are teachers who run classrooms where students succeed.” Broten had words of caution for Hudak on changes to the bill, which would allow the government to impose the Catholic deal on holdout unions if they don’t agree by year’s end. “It’s really important to recognize that the legislation that we will be introducing into the House on Monday is the result of 300 hours of negotiations. . . . It has been signed on to by 55,000 teachers,” Broten said. McGuinty has recalled the legislature Monday, two weeks early, to deal with the bill that would prevent a Sept. 1 contract rollover resulting in $473 million in wage in- creases for some younger teachers moving up the salary grid and allow teachers to continue banking unused sick days to cash out at retirement. All gains would be clawed back under the legislation. New Democrats have suggested they will not support the bill, so backing from Conservatives would give the minority Liberal government the votes it needs to impose the deal. “It’s no surprise that Tim Hudak is prepared to be just as reckless as Dalton McGuinty,” said NDP House leader Gilles Bisson, calling for continued negotiations between unions and school boards. Citing the recent example of 98 per cent of civil service managers who shared $36 million in bonuses last year despite a supposed pay freeze, Hudak said he’s worried about any “loopholes” in the legislation and is against principals having to pick substitute teachers based on seniority more than suitability.
He also balks at the Catholic deal because it allows younger teachers to continue progressing through the salary grid as they gain experience, saying that will cost taxpayers $300 million.
The holdout unions — mainly the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation — have said they want to bargain with local school boards to reach contracts instead of having the OECTA deal thrust upon them.
“We’re hopeful at some point we’ll get a settlement,” OSSTF president Ken Coran said Wednesday, maintaining he’s worried Hudak’s signal today could prompt the government to tighten the deal now available.
“We’ll see what happens Monday.”