OUR COMMUNITY

January 28, 2013 People of Education Kathleen Wynne, Ontario's new Premier, brings a great deal of experience to the table - both with education and with conflict resolution. The current conflicts in education are not just about the details in contracts; they are also about the process for developing the contracts and, for some, about who was not at the table. To start the reconciliation process, there are a number of groups that will want to represented: �The Catholic, French and Public school board associations, who have raised serious concerns about the fact that they were left out (for the most part) of bargaining with their employees (teachers and support staff) and that significant changes were made to education policy without their input (teacher hiring, cuts to professional development, loss of Student Success teachers in high school, diagnostic testing etc.); �The Catholic and Public principals� associations, who were also missing from bargaining tables but who are affected by the terms of provincially mandated contracts (three unpaid days off and less control over hiring); �Students, who said that despite Bill 115�s name � Putting Students First � their voice has not been sufficiently heard, particularly because they are the ones to feel the impact of labour conflicts through the loss of extra curricular activities; �The Elementary and Secondary public teachers� federations (OSSTF and ETFO), who felt that the province bargained unfairly, and then used a heavy-handed new law to impose contracts on them. �All the other education unions including CUPE, OECTA, AEFO.

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Posted at 2019-02-20