Province to pay almost $57M to teachers, education workers

Latest cost for government from court challenge over imposed contracts in 2012

The Ontario government continues to pay the price for imposing contracts on teachers and education workers, adding another $56.7 million to its tab for a legal settlement with the union representing custodians and school secretaries.

That money is on top of the roughly $50 million for the province’s public high school teachers, and $2.75 million to school staff represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

But negotiations with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) have not gone well, with the union announcing Thursday that it would head back to court because it cannot reach an agreement with the province over Bill 115, which was forced on the education sector back in 2012 under an austerity push by then-premier Dalton McGuinty.

ETFO “has decided that the principle of fair remedy for the losses suffered by ETFO members due to Bill 115 needs to be honoured,” President Sam Hammond said in a statement.

“What the government has proposed doesn’t address that principle,” the statement says, adding that the “strips made to collective agreements ... resulted in losses to Ontario education sector workers in the range of $2.1 billion.”

A spokesperson for the union said “our case will be set out in our sub- mission to the court” and refused further comment.

Last year, Superior Court Justice Thomas Lederer found that the Ontario government had “substantially interfered” with teachers’ and support staffers’ Charter rights with the “Putting Students First Act,” which stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights, their right to strike, cut the number of sick days, ended the practice of banking unused sick days, and delayed salary grid increases.

Rather than impose a settlement, he encouraged the sides to reach a “legal remedy” — but giving them the option to return to court should they not be able to.

Education Minister Mitzie Hunter noted the settlements have been “in response to the Superior Court’s ruling on the Putting Students First Act, 2012, which asked the parties to work together to reach a resolution on remedy,” and agreements have been reached with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, OPSEU and the $56.7 million deal with the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

“We remain committed to working with our education partners to build upon the gains we have made in Ontario’s publicly-funded education system and to continue to give students the best educational experience possible,” she also said.

The province’s 60,000 high school teachers will get up to $3,000 each, as well as a paid day off, under their deal.

The government is also to pay the unions’ legal fees.