Public confidence in education system at risk
For the past decade, one of the main goals of Ontario’s Liberal government has been to increase public confidence in our education system. And for a while it seemed they were successful at doing this, by increasing graduation rates and performing well on international rankings. However, the current labour dispute between the government and the province’s teachers unions, along with recently leaked details of the agreements they have reached, seriously threatens to undermine all of this.
Payments of $2.5 million, which were kept hidden from the public, made by the Liberal government to the unions representing Ontario’s high school, Catholic and French teachers seem almost impossible to defend. However, under intense media scrutiny, Education Minister Liz Sandals has certainly tried. First, she said that the payments were necessary to cover the increased costs associated with the new collective bargaining process that was put in place, assuring the public that “This will never happen again.” But that became increasingly hard to believe when it was later revealed that the Liberals made similar payments in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
This was compounded by the fact that the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the largest teachers union in the province, did not receive any payment whatsoever, and has always covered its own collective bargaining costs. And isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? After all, unions collect mandatory dues from their members for that specific purpose.
All of this has painted a cynical narrative when it comes to the Liberals’ relation- ship with the province’s teachers unions that goes something like this: During election time, the unions spend millions of dollars and help campaign to get the Liberals elected. And then once in office, the Liberals return the favour by giving pay raises to teachers, and secret payments to their unions. Any public hostility between the two sides is really just pantomime that hides their real collusion.
While this view is usually peddled by right-wing opponents of both the Liberals and the unions (the National Post editorial board has called the relationship “corrupt”), it is becoming increasingly plausible to even the average person. And that is the real danger. If the public becomes convinced that our education system is just being used to benefit the Liberal party and the teachers unions, confidence will plummet. And once that happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to convince the public to continue making necessary investments in the system.
But the unions also need to tread carefully here. They risk losing the confidence of their members if they are seen as being too cosy with the party in power. For example, members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association might be surprised to learn that its union has spent more than $4.5 million helping to elect the Liberals since 2011. And remember that in 2013, after publicly de- nouncing the Wynne government for months, the president of the OSSTF left his post to run for the Liberals. It also came to light that the Toronto branch of the OSSTF had secretly given the Liberals $30,000 in unsolicited campaign donations during its leadership convention that year, while a member of its executive worked as a delegate for the party.
And what have teachers gotten for all of this Liberal support? Kathleen Wynne has now threatened to dock elementary teachers’ pay if they continue with their current job action. And the contract that high school teachers received did little to reverse the conditions that were previously imposed on them by the Liberals. While supporting Wynne and the Liberals has saved teachers from the spectre of a PC government (recall that former PC leader Tim Hudak talked about bringing union-busting “right-to-work” legislation here to Ontario), it is hard to argue it has done much else.
If the payments made from the government to the unions really were necessary, then there is no reason they should have been kept hidden from the public. This is public education. And so the public has a right to know what decisions are being made, and how their money is being spent. That is the only way they can hold their government to account. Anything less risks a loss of public confidence that could be devastating to the world-class education system that we have built.
If the public becomes convinced that our education system is being used to benefit politicians and teachers unions, confidence will plummet