A win for the kids
It won’t erase the sting over lost extracurricular activities, but the Ontario Labour Relations Board made a wise decision when it ruled against the after-school boycott by the province’s elementary teachers’ union.
The board’s finding — that the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario waged an unlawful strike in two boards through its unofficial work-to-rule campaign — sends a powerful message that the union can’t ignore, even if some disenchanted teachers may. At least for now, the union’s mighty missives can’t make pawns out of students, who despite what some teachers say are still the real victims of the contract dispute. For kids and parents, that’s a relief.
As the Star’s Kristin Rushowy and Louise Brown report, the ruling could prevent the unofficial work-to-rule campaigns that led to months of lost clubs and sports for many of Ontario’s 1.3 million public school pupils.
Even though a rapprochement has been reached between teachers and Ontario’s Ministry of Education, labour board chair Bernard Fishbein said he felt the need to rule because the vague status of extracurricular activities “has bedevilled teacher relations in this province and others for decades.”
His decision will affect schools across the province, but it was ruling on a cease-and-desist order filed against the union by Trillium Lakelands District School Board in cottage country and the Upper Canada District School Board in eastern Ontario.
Unfortunately, his ruling won’t be the last word on a union’s power within public schools. The ETFO has said it will launch a legal challenge, on the grounds that the Education Act’s definition of a strike impedes a teacher’s right to freedom of association under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So it’s not over just yet.
Even though the union’s recent agreement with the education ministry prompted president Sam Hammond to reverse his embargo on after-school volunteering, nothing can force a teacher to make that choice.
As Hammond said, “You can’t legislate goodwill.” But it sure helps to have a precedent-setting ruling that says unions should not trifle with students.