OSSTF Deal: Vote No?

This is a newly revised + expanded guest blog from our OSSTF Activist readers:

Why it may be worth “gambling” on a NO vote:

It means agreeing to a continued decline in our real incomes!!!

The Memorandum of Settlement is not a net gain as would appear on first glance.  Consider the following realities of accepting the proposed contract:

The “lump sum” of 1% during the 2015-2016 does not work to increase our base salary. 

In effect, our salaries are s for another year.

That set-back will be compounded for the remainder of our respective careers (i.e. we lose that 1% for each year following the 2015-2016 year).

In 2012 our salaries were frozen for three years – that set-back is already “in the mix”. 

In comparing our salary to the Cost of Living Increases since 2012, and an estimated yearly increase of 1.6% over the duration of the proposed contract we will observe significant gross losses in salary.

(See Calculation Summary below)

If we account for the cost of living over the 5 years (2012 - 2017)
we will have worked ¼ of a year for free!!

THAT IS EQUIVALENT TO A HALF SEMESTER FOR FREE!

Here are two examples of a teacher on the salary grid:

“Level 3” Teacher who started working in 2003

School Year	Gross Earnings (incl. delayed grid movement)	Contract Gain %	CPI %	Salary with  grid movement and indexed to CPI	Difference	Total Loss
2011-12	$80, 256	We’ll use this salary as our base value of the last negotiated salary.
2012-13	$81, 641	0	1.5%	$85, 111	$3, 470	$3, 470
2013-14	$85, 651	0	1.2%	$89, 826	$4, 175	$7, 645
2014-15	$87, 449	0	2%	$91, 622	$4, 173	$11, 818
2015-16	$88, 323	0 + 1% Lump	1.6%*	$92, 539	$4, 215	$16, 033
2016-17	$88, 544	1% + 0.5% on 98th day	1.6%*	$94, 019	$5, 475	$21, 508

* Estimates based on the average of the CPI% from previous three years.

“Level 4” Teacher who started working in 2005

School Year	Gross Earnings (incl. delayed grid movement)	Contract Gain %	CPI %	Salary with  grid movement and indexed to CPI	Difference	Total Loss
2011-12	$76, 600	We’ll use this salary as our base value of the last negotiated salary.
2012-13	$78, 063	0	1.5%	$81, 460	$3, 397	$3, 397
2013-14	$82, 055	0	1.2%	$86, 132	$4, 078	$7, 475
2014-15	$85, 861	0	2%	$91, 622	$5, 971	$13, 446
2015-16	$90, 140	0 + 1% Lump	1.6%*	$96, 345	$6, 205	$19, 651
2016-17	$94, 007	1% + 0.5% on 98th day	1.6%*	$101, 753	$7, 746	$27, 397

* Estimates based on the average of the CPI% from previous three years.

It fails the fairness test:

Teachers have been told that wage increases for us would be unjust to taxpayers.

Given that real incomes are rising across the province, and are expected to continue to do so, this austerity-based reasoning questionable.

We have already paid through a 5% decline in our real incomes between 2012 and 2014.  Under the proposed contract, the total decline in our real salaries (2012 and 2017) would, in all likelihood, exceed 10%.

If we continue to bear the financial burden, through decreasing real wages, the Provincial Government has little incentive to resolve its cash flow problem in other ways.

Agreeing to this deal sends some troubling messages about what we think is OK:

Shocking us with blatantly unacceptable demands (and then removing them) works, because we are so shocked that we will then accept anything.

It is OK for the Province to arrive at the bargaining table empty handed.

The enforced contract strips from 2012 will become permanent.

There is a viable alternative:

The negotiation process is equipped to cope with the rejection of a tentative deal.

When negotiation recommenced, OSSTF would return with a mandate to raise the bar.

Suggested Contractual/Bargaining Position(s) in terms of Compensation:

     Immediate Lump Sum to off-set the freeze since 2012.

    

    A provision of a cost of living adjustment as the minimum salary adjustment.

 (See the accompanying Excel file to track other examples, noting that the calculations do not adjust  for movement across grid levels or leaves of absence.) [Ed: Most regretfully, Excel documents are not  compatible with my blog program. Ditto embedded charts and varied indentation features. In solidarity! David C]

The new teacher contract deals: How will you vote?!?

PS: Guest blogs welcome!!! More info @ Link ]

 COMMENTS:

Labour Day 2015 Solidarity!

The Toronto Labour Day Parade 2015 begins at 9:30 am from Queen St. West and University! It continues along Queen St. West and into the CNE through the Dufferin Gate. Here's who will be marching in solidarity this year:

NOTES:

Teachers, education workers and our supporters especially need to attend this year!!! Not everybody has a tentative deal, and even these have not yet been ratified. It is very important to show our solidarity against the austerity agenda here in Ontario and with our "Heave Steve" union federal election initiative. Without doubt other Labour Day Parades will also be carried out in other cities across the province. Members should contact their local office for more information!

In solidarity!

David C

PS: Visit the Labour Council Home Page @ Link

COMMENTS: 

Clarification: OSSTF Deal: Apples 2 Apples?!?

The blog on "Keep North's" well intentioned missive has been withdrawn pending further clarification. It is widely available online and has been shared elsewhere with the office and members of all affiliates, before I received it. It is written as a "Draft" for an OSSTF doc but is NOT an official OSSTF document. Although it provides a lot of worthwhile food for thought, as the author intended, they write:

OSSTF did not provide this chart. I asked for the comparison. They wouldn't provide it. So I did the comparison myself .... The sources are the contract and TA in PEEL and Peel only.

Teacher Free Speech regrets any misunderstandings and thanks "Keep North" with sharing their thoughts!

PS: Teacher Free Speech Guest Blogs welcome!!! More info @ Link ]

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