Events of the past week mark a dark chapter in the history of
labour relations in our province. As you know, the Government of
Ontario announced last Thursday that it would pass regulations
through Cabinet to arbitrarily impose terms and conditions of
employment on more than 194,000 employees in the education
sector. The purported legal authority for this action – Bill 115
– strips away collective bargaining rights of teachers,
educational assistants and support staff under the guise of
“putting students first”.
This government action represents a blow to the democratic
rights that working women and men have fought to win over many
decades. It shows contempt for your right, and the right of
every union member, to work together to negotiate a collective
agreement that is acceptable to all parties. It also reveals how
little respect the current government has for the skills and
dedication of those, like you, who work for our boards of
education.
Prior to the government’s announcement, all OPSEU bargaining
units were engaged in contract negotiations with their local
school boards. None were in a position to strike, or had
threatened to strike. In fact, many bargaining teams had reached
agreement on some articles in your contracts, and were
continuing to bargain others. Further bargaining dates were
scheduled with school boards through January and February of
2013, and conciliators from the Ministry of Labour had been
assigned to help the parties. This is what collective bargaining
should be about. But the Minister of Education wants nothing to
do with fair discussion or negotiation. Make no mistake, the
government’s arbitrary deadline of December 31, 2012 had nothing
to do with bargaining. It was a political calculation based on
the current Liberal leadership race and a possible spring
election.
Having imposed terms of employment under Bill 115, the Minister
of Education now finds herself with a massive mess on her hands
and, in my view, has no clue where to go from here. The Minister
has said she had “no option”. This is transparently untrue. She
has also said that the government will now repeal Bill 115, as
if hiding the weapon can remedy the assault on union members’
democratic, Charter-protected rights.
Notwithstanding the unnecessary crisis created by the
government, I wish to reassure you in the strongest possible
terms that OPSEU is working with your Divisional Executive,
local leaders, and other unions in the education sector to
protect your rights from the government’s destructive agenda.
The OPSEU Executive Board is committed to continued action on
your behalf.
OPSEU will continue to pursue our Charter challenge to Bill 115,
which was filed in November 2012. Our case is only strengthened
by the events of last week, and we look forward to placing Bill
115 and the government’s actions before the Courts.
In the days and weeks ahead you may receive more information
from the government or boards of education about your new
so-called “collective agreement”. You will also be invited by
OPSEU to attend information meetings and participate in public
action. I strongly encourage you to become involved and support
your local leadership when they call on you. For the sake of all
members in this sector, and all public sector workers, we must
not allow the government’s action to stand unchallenged.
In Solidarity,
Warren (Smokey) Thomas
President
