Province says 2% raise for teachers too costly

Education minister says he’s asked negotiators to ‘enhance’ Ontario’s offer

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says he’s told government negotiators to “enhance” the province’s offer to teachers, but that a two per cent salary increase is too costly.

Lecce told reporters Friday — just hours after the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation asked for the help of a conciliator at the bargaining table — that a cost-of-living increase for all of the province’s teachers would come with a $1.5 billion yearly price tag.

“That is not a small amount to taxpayers in the province,” he said at Queen’s Park. “If I’m going to make that enhancement, it’s going to be for things that improve your child’s life.”

Bigger class sizes remain a key issue in contract talks — the province has already announced it will boost from an average of 22 to 28 students in high schools over the next four years — as well as a move to four mandatory online courses in order to graduate.

Thousands of teaching positions will be lost and students are already grappling with fewer course offerings and class sections. Once implemented, the government will save about $900 million a year.

Friday’s developments follow the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario application for conciliation earlier in the week. Both the elementary and secondary teacher unions are also conducting strike votes, amid stalled talks.

All teacher unions remain at the bargaining table. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’

Association has not scheduled any strike votes as of yet.

The province has said it wants to cap public sector raises to one per cent a year, as it did with a recent deal with education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

NDP education critic Marit Stiles said the government’s reforms are unpopular with families and are already wreaking havoc.

“The minister of education didn’t mention oversized classrooms, the students that are crammed into classrooms … He didn’t talk about the students who can’t get the courses they need to graduate and he didn’t talk about what’s coming, the mandatory online courses that I know students are very anxious about.”

Along with cuts to teaching positions, “he needs to back off those cuts right now and get back to the table” to ensure kids aren’t affected by any job action, Stiles added.

Harvey Bischof, president of the secondary school teachers’ union, has accused the Doug Ford government of stalling at the bargaining table, and not putting forward any proposals on major issues.

Bischof accused the government of making cuts to teachers and support staff — who his union also represents — and “leveraging that at the bargaining table. That is not bargaining in good faith.”

The province, he added, “is clearly just playing politics and not focusing on student wellbeing.”

Michael Barrett of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said it wants a fully funded and fair deal that provides a “stable learning environment for all students.”