Settlement with teachers will cost the province $50M

Court ruled against government for imposing contracts in 2012

The Ontario government will spend about $50 million to make amends with public high school teachers five years after violating their constitutional rights by forcing contracts on them.

Paul Elliott, president of the 60,000member Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said in an interview that while the payout is to compensate for the loss of banking sick days and a delay in salary increases, it doesn’t even come close to what the government saved back in 2012.

“This is kind of a token as opposed to what was taken out of the contract, because it was over a billion dollars,” he said. “At the end of the day, they took over a billion dollars out and they are paying pennies on that. It’s a big difference between a billion dollars and $50 million.”

A court decision found that the Ontario government had “substantially interfered” with the bargaining rights of teacher and support staff unions when it imposed contracts on them, froze their pay and cut sick day provisions as part of an austerity push under then premier Dalton McGuinty.

The judge in the case had asked the sides to work out their own “remedy” rather than have the court impose one.

Under the terms of the deal recently reached with the OSSTF, members are to receive a lump-sum payment to make up for the province putting an end to accumulating sick days that could be cashed out at retirement. Teachers will receive roughly $500 or $1,000 each, depending on how long they have been working for their board. The government will spend $25 million alone on that.

In addition, full-time teachers could receive as much as $2,000 each for a delay in “grid movement” in both 2012 and 2013, which put off automatic salary increases for 97 days in each of those school years.

Teachers will also get an extra paid day off — one that is to be covered by a supply teacher, also members of the OSSTF. Supplies typically earn $250 a day. No specific amount has been allocated for this.

The government is also on the hook for the unions’ legal fees, which Elliott estimated to be a few hundred thousand dollars.

The government has yet to work out similar remedies with the elementary teachers’ and support staff unions.

Jim Morrison, of the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Ontario, said talks are scheduled for May11 and 12. He’s hopeful a deal can be worked out but if not, he believes they will likely turn back to the court.

The sides have already met a couple of times but could not come to an agreement, added Morrison, who is in charge of the remedy talks along with Terri Preston, CUPE Ontario’s chief negotiator for school boards.

“We tried to deal with the remedy last year, and it didn’t get anywhere,” said Morrison. “We have just recently set dates with the government to see if there’s a way to resolve the remedy issue . . . we are coming to the talks with an open mind.”

Talks also continue with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which has 78,000 members.

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Ed- ucation Minister Mitzie Hunter said because “discussions with other applicant unions are ongoing and the matter remains before the courts, we can’t speak to the specifics at this time.”

Elliott said while the deal was a tough sell at ratification meetings — “(the meetings) were rough, let me tell you, because a lot of people stood and they were very angry about it” — but it was ultimately approved in a vote.

“I think it does settle it for us,” he said of the remedy. “The judgment still stands, and that’s an important piece for us too, to make sure that the ruling stands and that it’s not going to be challenged down the road.”

The government said it enacted Bill 115, or the Putting Students First Act, because teacher unions had walked away from negotiations. The move caused massive labour disruption in schools, with teachers refusing to run extracurricular activities and some taking part in rotating, one-day strikes.

The unions said they had warned the government that violating the constitutional rights of teachers would be costly.

Because CUPE staff earn an average of $38,000 a year, and are typically the lowest paid, losing out on pay has a huge impact on members, Morrison said. “Our members are anxious to get this resolved,” he said. “But we are not going to sell ourselves short, either.”