Letter to a member of the Liberal Party of Ontario

by Amy Gottlieb on Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 9:52pm ·

Thanks for coming to our school to speak with us about Bill 115 and the situation facing teachers. It could not have been easy to meet with a group of angry citizens and we all admire your courage.

You said that the Liberal government has $15 billion deficit and that you must cut costs. According to your narrative, if your government had not imposed a wage freeze, teachers would have gotten an immediate 3% pay increase. That, according to you, was the urgency behind passing the legislation. But teachers were willing to accept a wage freeze and your government knew that. So what was the urgency?

Was it that you knew that if you let collective bargaining proceed and no agreement was reached, that an arbitrator was likely to recommend a settlement that your government disagreed with? Was it to override collective bargaining rights in Ontario and in the process weakening the union movement thus making it easier for the Liberal government to implement austerity wage and benefit cuts? Was it to try to sway public support in your direction with a message that despite the nine year friendship between teachers and the Liberal government, teachers had to take a hit to show that your government is serious?  We think it is all of the above.

But really is it about the money? As a number of teachers pointed out, if the government wanted to save money, revoking our banked sick days was the wrong way to do it. On average we take 6.5 days a year. Banking sick days is an incentive to use them prudently and it is something that we earned in collective bargaining, in exchange for less pay and benefits. With the end of banking sick days, the government will be paying a lot more (likely another 3.5 days per teacher) for supply teachers. How is this cutting the deficit? Surely this proves that this is a political decision as much, if not more than a financial one.

To call the legislation “Putting Students First” is just the most obvious form of disrespect that Bill 115 embodies. We are teachers who are devoted to providing our students with positive and collaborative learning experiences, helping them get to know themselves and their world. We educate them to become productive, creative and active citizens and to resist attacks on their human rights. This legislation with all of its attendant media spin has done a disservice to teachers and students. How can you put “students first” when you withdraw the possibility to negotiate modest and hard-won gains? How can your government talk about “putting more resources into the classroom” but not into teachers, especially new teachers?

Many talented and vibrant teachers are graduating from faculties of education in a competitive job climate and are struggling to find a secure position. With student loans and the responsibility of providing for ourselves and our families, new teachers are faced with financial challenges. Having already invested a great deal of time into our education, new and experienced teachers enrich their teaching through Additional Qualification courses that cost money and time. By freezing the pay grid, your government is creating a situation where talented new teachers will be thinking very seriously about leaving the profession because of this freeze and the overall climate of disrespect.

Your government has revoked all previous contracts we have negotiated and has imposed an end to collective bargaining and our right to strike. And you have done this with legislation that pretends that it is above the law, above the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We are angered because despite our agreement to a wage freeze your government rushed to shut down our right to negotiate with our boards of education.  What became clear for a number of us is that teachers are the first group of public sector workers who are being asked to pay for deficit reduction. Your government seems to be finishing the dirty work of Mike Harris by making the ministry of education all powerful and putting the will of the government above the people of Ontario.

Instead of cutting wages and benefits, which we feel will backfire because of the decreased spending power of middle class income earners, how about readjusting your government's priorities away from cuts in education and health and towards savings from scrapping high-cost, risky nuclear projects?  Your government could also increase government revenue through a 2% corporate tax increase, a sector that doesn’t pay their fair share.

Just as the teachers of Chicago and the students of Quebec have shown, people will respond with anger to draconian and unjust policies that impact the majority of the population. Not only is Bill 115 unjust, it will also produce no positive economic or social outcomes for our society.

Sincerely,

Amy Gottlieb