Opening Statement



Wednesday 27 November 2013

OECTA Letter: MOU + Me Too Implementation!

My Teacher + Union Blog Acronym Guide is Here!


Catholic Boards to teachers ...

The following letter was sent to all OECTA members last week by President James Ryan. It outlines the problems many units across the province are having implementing the MOU + Me Too clauses of the July 5th agreement. I have documented some of these problems, and their root causes in a number of blogs over the past year or so. These are added at the end of today's to provide you with a study guide of the situation. A number of other noteworthy related communications will be forthcoming over the next few days. Here's James letter:

Dear OECTA Member,

It may be hard for you to believe, but the struggle to implement agreements reached by OECTA with the provincial government in 2012 and early 2013 is still going on in some parts of the province.

You may not have encountered any problems in your unit. It’s possible that your board administrators respect your professional judgement when it comes to testing. Perhaps occasional teachers in your unit are appropriately interviewed, their credentials and experience evaluated and their applications for LTO positions treated with seriousness. And maybe your colleagues are benefiting from longer maternity leave, for example. If that is the case, your board officials deserve to be congratulated. Unfortunately, this is not the situation in all boards.

Since July 2012 we have witnessed two main trends.

Some boards have adopted a positive, respectful attitude towards OECTA’s settlement with the provincial government. These boards have implemented all aspects of the 2012 agreement and the 2013 Update to that agreement and OECTA members are benefiting.

On the other hand, a large number of Catholic district school boards have refused to put the entire agreement into effect. And because of this, many OECTA members are losing out when it comes to more generous maternity leave provisions, transparent hiring of occasional teachers, sick leave, and more.

It is the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA) that has been orchestrating much of the resistance to implementing our provincial agreement. On one hand, most boards have been quick to implement claw-backs from teachers, for example, the end to retirement gratuities and sick leave banks. On the other hand, most refuse to honour provisions that respect teachers’ professional judgement in testing, and protections for occasional teachers. They must be shown this is fundamentally unfair.



So much for being Catholic ...

We believe OCSTA is positioning itself for the new provincial bargaining system that will come into effect if Bill 122, now working its way through the Ontario Legislature, becomes law. If that occurs, OCSTA will benefit from unprecedented influence at a new provincial bargaining table. The trustees’ association doesn’t like the 2012 agreement and would like to pretend it does not exist for the next round of bargaining, expected to start early in 2014. This explains some of their actions in the past 12 months.


OECTA has attempted to correct boards’ damaging actions locally, and we have repeatedly urged the Ministry of Education to pressure reluctant boards to show their good faith by acting on these agreements. Responsibility for many of the problems we’re facing across the province must be laid at the ministry’s door.

Because our efforts have not produced the desired results, OECTA is committed to taking whatever action is needed to compel local school boards to abide by the collective agreement, which is, after all, law. To this end local bargaining units will be engaging in action that we hope will convince the offending school boards to change their ways.

As a sign of OECTA’s commitment to these efforts, our Provincial Executive has authorized significant financial and practical support of local actions. One example, working with local bargaining units the provincial Association is producing a comprehensive version of every collective agreement, including local understandings currently in effect, so that all members have that tool in order to evaluate their employer’s faithfulness in implementation.

Your local bargaining unit will provide you with more information on their plans as these are developed.

Sincerely,

James Ryan
President


Study Guide Links:

My OECTA Study Guide with the MOU + supporting materials @ July 2012

OCSTA screwed Catholic Principals when left PDT talks @ July 2012

TCDSB agrees to OECTA MOU @ Aug 2012

OCSTA + COPC not happy campers @ Sept 2012

OECTA MOU Me Too controversy @ May 2013

OECTA Me Too? Or Me No? @ May 2013

Sick day plans + the unpaid medical leave crisis May 2013

OECTA verses the OSSTF sick day plan dilemma @ June 2013

Join me on Twitter: I regularly tweet related archive links + updated info. My hashtag is

                                                                           #davidchiarelli



A Merry Christmas Present: From the Catholic Boards to the teachers ...

COMMENTS?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

This letter is a total joke and sadly another sign of the growing disconnect OECTA PE has with the rank and file. Ryan proposes hat action taken locally to pressure boards into upholding their end of the bargain on the MOU is to gather collective agreements and put them in a binder for all to see? WOW. That's real tough Jimmy. Maybe this guy has been hitting the hospitality suite circuit too much. The fact is O'Dwyer sold out and got nothing for members except the shaft. Meanwhile OECTA licks Liberal boots and continues on the path or irrelevance. Small wonder members are not engaged. Perhaps that is what the union class wants? Hands off my empire little peon teacher worker. Give me back my dues.

Anonymous said...

What goes around, comes around! OECTA PE not only screwed their own members but the other teachers' unions and CUPE. Honestly, I do not sympathize at all that many OECTA members are affected.

Kulture Kult Ink said...

Just goes to show you can't make a deal with the devil! Half way across the bridge, he'll toss you over! I hope OECTA members sit up and take note so they won't be so complacent as the union enter the next round of negotiations with the other affiliates.

Anonymous said...

The union focus these days seems to be saving the Third World and ignoring the plight of workers in this country and their mandate to protect the interests and rights of due paying workers in this country! Maybe they want to keep their heads in the sand that Canada itself is steadily gravitating toward Third World Standards- did you see the Royal Bank figures last night on how much workers are paying for a roof over their heads in this country? If the middle class is destroyed we will be the 3rd World!

Anonymous said...

Let's get this straight-hey rank and file Oecta members- our union's voting structure is so out of date (no one member-one vote)- that O'Dwyer could sign an MOU deal with no gain and lots of pain-but no vote on it allowed and then Provincial has the gall to ask members to rally in defence of the MOU through supporting job action? Nice try but this member won't be fooled again! Why isn't Provincial going local and fixing all the problems they imposed on local Oecta units with the MOU and its province-wide bargaining?

Anonymous said...

If you have a problem with OECTA, your salary, or working conditions, you have two choices.

Choice #1 Wallow in self pity in front of the TV set blaming OECTA past and present for everything that is wrong in the universe and do nothing about any of it.

Choice #2 Get involved in your OECTA unit, run for provincial office, etc. and work to make things better.

The choice is clear.

Sincerely,

Reality Woman

Anonymous said...

I agree with the poster above: To Provincial -- this mess is your creation. To now ask your locals to clean it up is abhorrent. Here's an idea - why don't YOU do something about it?

Anonymous said...

Affordability deteriorated in many of the large markets, but while the average number is only moderately higher than historic norms, RBC notes there is a wide disparity in the associated costs depending on markets, with some appearing out of reach of the average family.

It would take 84.2 per cent of an average household's pre-tax income to maintain a home in Vancouver, a rise of two percentage points from the second-quarter reading.

In Toronto, the affordability measure rose 1.3 percentage point to 55.6 per cent, the second worst in the country.


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/higher-prices-mortgage-rates-affecting-home-affordability-rbc-1.1562527#ixzz2mKOiCmPB

Anonymous said...

Nice condescending and disrespectful answer from "Reality Woman" to an OECTA member's 100% valid observation.

So any Oecta member who asks questions is a whiner sitting in front of the TV?

When the MOU hit with all its destructive force I was and am still an active member of my UNIT.

Provincial asked for NO UNIT INPUT when they signed the MOU.

Then Provincial took away Oecta members' right to vote on the MOU.

Rewrite history all you want and blame the rank and file OECTA members all you want but OECTA members were completely betrayed by their leaders with the MOU. That's a Reality Check.

Also, I don't see Oecta Provincial asking Oecta members what they think OECTA's 2014 Collective Bargaining Objectives should be. Are they just going to sit there and get dumped on again by the Liberal Government?

Anonymous said...

OECTA Provincial needs to ask every OECTA member what he/she thinks should be OECTA's Collective Bargaining Objectives for PDT 2014. Use OECTA LISTENS or @OECTA newsletter to get individual OECTA member input/data.

Anonymous said...

OECTA has a new bargaining process. This time you will be asked for your ideas and you will get to vote on any deal. Hopefully you will get off your couch long enough to do so. Oh wait I forgot. It will all be online so you don't even have to get off your couch.

Reality Woman

Anonymous said...

Wow! Lots of anger directed at couches and TVs. What Home Furnishing is next? OECTA HOME FURNISHING Committee

Kulture Kult Ink said...

Curved Space in Toronto used to make very funky but utilitarian bean bag couches + chairs -unless you had a cat! Couldn't scratch or wash the covers. Hmmm. Whatever happened to Curved Space anyway .......? Ooops! This isn't "Ask Angelo!" Regrets .....

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