Panel’s decision could spark back-to-work legislation,
Former committee head will fill in as obscure body weighs legality of teacher walkouts
The man tasked with deciding if three teachers’ strikes are unlawful announced Tuesday he will not take part in a panel deciding if those same strikes have put the school year in jeopardy.
On Tuesday, before starting the third day of the labour relations board hearing, chair Bernard Fishbein noted he is also chair of the Education Relations Commission.
Given that Education Minister Liz Sandals on Friday asked the commission to examine whether the school year is threatened in those same boards — Durham, Peel and Sudbury — Fishbein said he has “recused myself from those deliberations” and that former chair Chris Albertyn will be in charge.
Albertyn, a labour arbitrator and mediator, has been a member of the commission since 1997.
“I have reflected a great deal over the weekend and although I do not believe there is a conflict, I appreciate there is a need for some urgency and I am fully aware of the number of students who are not in class (because of the strikes),” Fishbein said.
While school boards had expected the Education Relations Commission to issue its decision on Wednesday at the latest, on Tuesday it was unclear if members had even set a date to meet.
The obscure panel was last convened more than a decade ago to declare a school year in jeopardy because of a long-lasting teacher strike in the Simcoe region.
Sandals, who has said she’s concerned about the length of strikes — Durham is now in its fifth week — is asking the commission to consider what’s called a “jeopardy advisement.”
If the commission decides the school year is at risk, what happens next is up to the government and could include back-to-work legislation.
Fishbein adjourned Tuesday’s hearing at 7 p.m. and said he would like to finish Wednesday, noting “I’ll sit late if I have to,” as both sides wrap up their final arguments.
However he did warn the three school boards’ lawyer Michael Hines that the legislation that outlines the new two-tiered bargaining process does not seem to stipulate when teachers’ unions can strike over local issues as opposed to striking over central issues — and nor does it appear to prohibit any “bleeding” of the two jurisdictions when it comes to job action.
Hines’ case has largely been built on arguing that the three striking union locals seem to focus on centrally bargained issues (class size, prep time) on their picket signs and in public comments.
Hines argued that if Fishbein does not make a ruling that supports a clear divide between strikes over local and central issues, the whole new bargaining process “will become the Wild West.”
If commission rules the strikes are jeopardizing the school year, Ontario government could consider back-to-work legislation