OECTA Deal: OSSTF ETFO CUPE Press Conference

First off, greetings to those of you from OSSTF and ETFO who recognized me at the press conference from my blog. I'm honoured to be so widely read. As it transpired, for whatever reason, I didn't get tossed out on my butt. I have a blog report to post on the Joint Press Conference, held by ETFO, OSSTF, AEFO and CUPE at the Sheraton Hotel at 10:30am today, as promised.

I have posted photos on my slide show. They sometimes take a while to appear and seem slow today, but they are coming. Sometimes a picture says a 1000 words. Well, you can look and decide for yourself. I'm not sure myself, but at any rate, they are always an interesting addition, and can help flesh things out, with a more human touch.

I am revamping and adding on to my "quickie blog" posted earlier today. I was downtown. It was sunny and hot. I realized I haven't been out much since school ended, so I enjoyed a little music shopping on Yonge St. Also a stop or two for a frozen coffee and icy soda while I just relaxed in air-conditioned splendour watching folks pass by the coffee shop windows. The Toronto tourist season is certainly in full swing.

I walked up Yonge Street to Bloor Street, then headed a block west to  meet my wife Janet. She got out of work early today. We enjoyed mussels in a tomato cream sauce and a Caesar salad sitting in the solarium at the Bloor Street Diner overlooking rush hour on Bay Street in  the Toronto financial district. The Bloor Diner is pretty much a Toronto institution. Old school Toronto perhaps. Well healed with a few trendies but never, in my experience, stuffy or pretentious. Outside of being polite and respectful one leaves any attitudes at the door and doesn't have to be particularly dressed up or put on any airs. Check it out some time if you haven't, especially if you're just visiting Toronto!

It can be a quite a very Toronto experience, and is open all hours, or at least very, very late. Oh the stories I could tell.......

I know. I know. I digress, but it is summer holidays........................... :-)

Anyway, I haven't read or seen the news reports yet, nor have I talked to anyone at OECTA, so these are just my immediate impressions of the press conference, take or leave them as you will.

Not much new, if anything, was seemingly said except to reassert each affiliate's position. I did not hear any immediate public snarling or gnashing of teeth over OECTA's PDT deal. Nor did I hear much direct reference to the terms of the new agreement either, from the joint presidents. The MOU was widely leaked and readily available on line from the Globe and Mail. In fact, I got my copy from an OSSTF connection overnight. On the whole the press conference lacked any news or views I haven't heard before. With all due respect to my colleagues in the other affiliates, I'd pretty much have to rate it C minus, and wonder why it was set up at all. I'd really expected some fireworks.

ETFO President Sam Hammond seemed most strident, comparing the Liberals to the Harris Conservatives. He also claimed Minister Broten wasn't very accommodating in meeting for any further talks with ETFO. A Toronto Star reporter focused on his strategy of going after the Liberals when a a much more voracious Conservative opposition is waiting to be elected, so they can implement the extreme anti-labour platform outlined in the recent White Paper they have been waving around. Maybe it was just me, but I could not quite follow Sam's response, except to note that he really is royally p.o'ed with the Liberals.

OSSTF's President seemed to pretty much stay the course on the themes of lack of discussion and the unacceptable PDT terms put forth by the Liberal government this spring. He emphasized teachers being unsettled and ill at ease with the way they are being now being treated by the Liberal government. He talked about how OSSTF wanted what was best for the teachers and so the students. He argued cuts certainly won't remedy the situation.

AEFO's Acting President did not have a translator. I'm afraid I am not bilingual so most of what she said was lost on me. However, a francophone reporter seemed rather exasperated in repeatedly asking her why the new PDT offer wouldn't be good for the students, a position she also seemed to be insisting upon.

CUPE's President pretty much repeated the well known union argument against the Liberal government's approach to the current economic crisis. Also that any form of contract stripping sets a bad precedent and is completely unacceptable for labour, teachers and support staff alike. The other presidents all were on the same page in their focus on the PDT deal. At no point though did I hear a clear concentrated attack upon OECTA, nor the details of our agreement at today's press conference. There was some talk about the need for solidarity, and  a reporter also asked about that too. Certainly none of the presidents were about to uncork any champagne bottles in our honour, as I had guessed, but the exact details of the OECTA deal were not discussed at any great depth or length either, if at all.

Quite frankly, the press conference seemed rather dull and uneventful. I don't know exactly what I expected the joint presidents to say, but again, I didn't hear anything of special note. It will be interesting to see what the media will pick up on. And no, I didn't get hassled, though I suppose everyone just considered me the blog guy, if at all, so all seems to remain tranquil -for right now that is :-)

However tomorrow is a different day. As is the day after that and the day after that and the day after that. Please don't interpret my observations to think everything is fine and dandy. Odds are that there's still much excitement and many more challenges ahead. Let's hope cooler minds continue to prevail.

Kindly note, all the "Comments" submitted in response to my blogs have been "con", or against OECTA's PDT deal. That's why I published so many of them of that bent. I can only hope this shows journalistic integrity because I am of course an OECTA member.

Our OECTA TSU executive meets on Monday, before President Jansen attends Tuesday's OECTA Provincial's COP [Council of President] meeting. There's certainly a lot to think about and discuss. Also more info to gather. Definitely I will want to discuss our OECTA position on the PDT deal further in my upcoming blogs once I can get a better bearing and perspective on all that's happened.

Stay tuned for more news, views and interesting links as they become available to post.

Well it's past midnight, and bedtime beckons. I hope this helps even if only in some small way for now.

Surprise OECTA MOU Agreement Reached!

Please note this blog was written with reference to the OECTA and Liberal press announcements that a PDT deal had been reached. The MOU was not made available. This link is for the complete text of the OECTA PDT Agreement, or more specifically the "MOU" [Memo of Understanding]:


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/read-the-agreement-between-ontario-and-the-catholic-teachers/article4393004/


Original blog:


Updated info is being added to this post as it comes in and is cleared for release. Please continue to scroll down the page for the latest information, which will further address many of the issues being considered:

[Thursday 3:00 pm]

OECTA made a surprise PDT announcement today. A deal with the Ontario government has been reached. OECTA’s statement is posted on the www.oecta.on.ca website.

Please know I have been quite frank and upfront with my previous blog postings. I provided the complete OECTA information I received and my conclusions were formulated accordingly. 

I need to reserve further comment for now about the surprise element of the announcement until I learn more about what has recently transpired. Please know I had no intention to mislead, and barring further information, am quite surprised and perhaps even shocked, as many of my readers must be, whether you have agreed with OECTA's position or not. 

Temporary blogsite problems prevent me from posting the OECTA statement here, though I hope to fix the problem asap. In the meantime here is my summary:

OECTA PDT Agreement Summary:

OECTA accepted the pay freeze of 0% until 2014. We will renegotiate the grid by then. A further 3 unpaid PD days have been added. In exchange it seems there won't be the same grid freeze proposed earlier, which would have especially hurt our teachers with less than 10 years teaching experience. However, it's does not sound like they will proceed up the salary grid scale as usual during the 2 year term of this agreement.

OECTA accepted the offer of 10 sick days, up from the earlier proposed total of 6. We are still 10 days short of our current 20, and will not have access to our accumulated sick day bank, should we be sick for any longer than that. Some special provisions are mentioned. It's unclear what they will be. Perhaps we'll be paid 2/3's salary for up to 120 days? The statement does not say.

OECTA has agreed that our accumulated sick day gratuity will be grandfathered at the maximum amount currently allowed, depending upon how many days you all ready have in the sick day bank. 

The province has agreed that "fair hiring language" must be included in our local contracts. Hiring practices have often not been fair and transparent in the past. It would seem the government will specifically support us in fighting these practices.

The province promises to recognize "teacher professionalism".This refers to a respect issue, if you will, that has long gone unaddressed. You are a highly trained professional. Is that often recognized at school in your decisions on curriculum, evaluation and ethics etc.? Are these often arbitrarily reversed, and are you often simply told what to do? The Liberals seem to be willing to specifically back us strongly in professional decision making, on assessment for now. I made mention of the professionalism issue in my July 3rd blog, and will want to comment much further on this later, in another context.


Here's the OECTA link at:


http://www.oecta.on.ca/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3jDIBNLI2cfIwP30GBjAyNLdyNzc4sgQ3cvI_1wkA6zePdQJ9dQI0N_A3_jQDMDI49QC_dQHw9jAwMDiLwBDuBo

Please stay tuned, and of course check the OECTA site.


Furthermore [6:25pm]:


The Liberal Daily Wire press release and OECTA statement on the MOU [Memo of Understanding] pretty much match up as far as the agreement details go. The Daily Wire emphasizes an agreement to address "non-monetary issues such as fair hiring" and how that will help our OT's [Occasional Teachers]. It does not specifically refer to the "teacher professionalism" issue like the OECTA press statement does. Significant? Maybe, or maybe not.


Here's the Liberal Party statement on their website:


http://www.ontarioliberal.ca/NewsBlog/NewsDetails.aspx?id=Deal+Reached+with+English+Catholic+Teachers


The Presidents of the other teacher associations; ETFO, OSSTF, and AEFO, will be joined by CUPE [the Canadian Union of Public Employees] to respond to OECTA's announcement in a joint press conference at 10:30 am, tomorrow Friday July 6, in Conference Rooms D+E, at the Sheraton Hotel In Toronto. The Sheraton is at 123 Queen St. West across from city hall. I wouldn't expect any champagne corks to fly. Union solidarity is about to become a big issue, as the polite but no doubt unhappy recent "Comments" to this blog would suggest. 


The "Comment" bar is below my blog and also shows up in the left side column. My new policy is to publish a representative cross section of any constructive comments pro and con, especially when it gets busy. Comments with names on them will be always be given preference, and I will reserve the right to not publish anonymous ones as I see fit.


If I can get into the press conference tomorrow I will file a blog report. They might very well kick me out on my butt. I'll never know unless I try! 


[7:40 pm]:


Question: If the Memo of Understanding [MOU] is to be ratified by the OECTA Council of Presidents [COP] within a week, what is the due process for finding out the exact details, and deciding how to vote? This is a very important issue for each local OECTA unit. It will also have a lasting effect on all teachers across the province, and upon our solidarity relationship with the other teacher and public employee affiliates. At the very least I would expect that very urgent OECTA local unit executive  meetings are in order, across the province, no easy task at such short notice during the summer holidays. It's always necessary to proceed in a responsible, methodological and transparent manner, whatever the responses might be with any decisions as important as this. 


[11:00]: Good news! Unit executive meetings are being arranged at the local level. I requested one for TSU but it seems the ball was all ready in motion. I have seen the details of the PDT agreement. There are A LOT of provisions for the various concerns I've presented above for each point of the agreement. LOTS! Confidentiality requires I don't release information ahead of time, so as to not muddy the process.  I will need to make sure which details I can publish before I say much more. Suffice to say I will not lie or deliberately mislead. Also know, I now think the biggest problem this deal poses will be politically with the other affiliates. Nuff said. Stay tuned.


[11:42] A TSU Message:

Please share with all members: 

1. The OECTA units have been informed that a deal was reached this morning.

a. A press conference was held at 1pm by OECTA.

b. More details will be provided tomorrow [Friday].

c.  A Special Council of Presidents meeting has been called for Tuesday

d.  Our executive will be meeting Monday

The Local Collectivive Bargaing Team:

i. ] will meet shortly to review as part of ongoing preparation for bargaining with the board.  

ii.] whatever Provincial Framework is finalized, will be reviewed for our local bargaining.

2. Details will continue to be shared over the next few days and throughout the summer.

Our OECTA PDT Agreement: comes as quite a sudden surprise!

Teacher Summer Holidays

Happy summer holidays! Here I am. I slept in until 9:30 am after staying up late. I am sitting on my condo balcony overlooking the Humber Valley. It is very lush and green. The temperature is in the thirties. I am still in my pyjamas, and I really don't have anything I have to do today.

Allow me to explain my summer holidays as a teacher. I am off nine weeks until Labour Day. I do not have to work. I get paid, in the case of our school board with one lump check at the end of June. I don't have to do anything. Some teachers take upgrading courses, even teach summer school. I use to when I first started out. Now I don't. I've been teaching  26 years and I am well on top of things. My high school classes are going great, the students are happy, and I love being with them, except in the summer, when their parents can spend some quality time with them instead. Maybe they have summer jobs or go to summer school. 


I feel no guilt. I will relax at home and round about my hometown of Toronto doing Toronto things like I have most of my life. I was born here. I've moved around but always come back. I plan to stay here, in our condo, with my wife, and maybe even die here someday, hopefully not too soon, in the music room or wherever.


This summer I will travel with her to Mexico, where we will lie on a beach, and I will snorkel and dive with the fish. We plan to explore the Maya ruins. I plan to go to Cuba for a week, where I will do some volunteer educational development work, and perhaps teach or attend a class each day to see how our programs are working out. Also I will just hang out with my local Cuban friends and enjoy everyday life there for a bit.


For our honeymoon, which also falls in the summer, Janet and I will go away somewhere. Maybe back to the beach if we can find a last minute deal at some nice sun destination. Or we will go somewhere else; we've been to Las Vegas and New York the past two years.


I do not feel any guilt about not working at all. Here is why: My yearly salary is cut all year so it averages out to pay for the summer holidays.I have worked for this holiday teaching your children and being with them every school day from September until now. Then there's the hours and hours of paperwork and meetings.


I am a trained professional, like a doctor, lawyer or engineer. It took a lot of work and study to get where I am today and I do a lot for the students. Maybe they are your sons or daughters. Maybe you can remember having a good teacher who really helped you?


It's a very special trust. It has been said that when we teach, we touch the future, for indeed someday they will grow up and carry on with life long after we are gone. At the very least we will hopefully help our students grow up to be happy, well adjusted people. We can help them prepare to get a job and be good citizens. We can teach  them a set of religious values if they go to a religious school, of which there are many, or some other sort of values education if they don't, so they hopefully become compassionate, caring and upstanding adults someday. Nothing is ever perfect, but quite frankly, we all do a darn good job of making a big difference in peoples' lives, hopefully quite a few.


As a teacher, I am a public employee, in our case with the provincial government. Our job, salary and benefits can be a political football folks love to kick around especially come contract and election time, where the powers that be can and will say whatever they like about us if they think it will help get them elected. Or if need be we provide an easy scapegoat for societies economic ills. If you have half a brain about the current economic crisis you can do the math. It did not occur nor will it go away because teachers are paid too much, get too many holidays, or belong to a union. You need look no further than the stock markets, the politicos, banks and corporations for the cause of that if you are mad and need to vent. Don't blame me.


As a trained professional I am one of the least paid in all the fields. I am obviously not in this for big bucks, but in Canada anyway, I can enjoy my holidays. That is the trade off. I work my butt off all year helping your kids, who are my students. I will return to school in the fall ready to do it again, just like I always have most of my working life, after years of university, summer courses and night school education and training. Really, you get more than you pay for but I am happy enough with the time off. Personally time is worth more than money to me and I am really looking forward to the summer holidays, and know I have earned them.


Hello summer! If you like what you read, please continue to visit my blog while my summer tale unfolds. If not, well you can still visit to grit your teeth and go grrr! grrr!  I'm ambivalent. I've been real busy and am quite drained from teaching your sons and daughters, your nephews and nieces. If you don't care about that, well once there were teachers who also cared for you. Maybe you had a bad teacher or school, very unfortunate. It can happen. Or maybe you didn't want to listen, talk and learn. Ditto. These are the sad exceptions to the rule but they can happen like anything else in life. Any which way, please continue to visit and enjoy. Comments can always be posted, pro or con, as long as they are constructive, because that's the teacher in me. Enjoy!

What Was Said: No Secret OECTA PDT Deal!

As rumours continue to fly, OECTA Provincial President Kevin Dwyer explains the current state of our PDT talks with the Ontario Government. The following press release was issued this week:

TORONTO, June 25, 2012 /CNW/ - Recent media reports have indicated that the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) is close to reaching a provincial framework agreement with the government. At this point in time, OECTA continues to engage in discussions with the government and trustee representatives, but no agreement has been reached.

OECTA remains at the Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) with the aim of negotiating a fair and reasonable agreement that protects the interest of our members and strengthens the classroom environment for our students, while recognizing the fiscal realities facing the province.While some progress has been made in our latest discussions with the government on the parameters they proposed, there are still many issues that must be resolved and much more discussion still needs to take place before any agreement can be reached.

OECTA is committed to bringing forward ideas to help solve problems and address outstanding issues. Ensuring that education in Ontario continues to move forward remains a common goal that provides a foundation upon which our discussions continue. 

OECTA President Kevin O'Dwyer

MORE INFO?   

June 18: What Was Said: Secret OECTA PDT Deal?!?

                 June 12: More PDT: A Commentary
                 June 01: PDT Update + Some Comments
                 May 26: Late May PDT Update
                 March 11: Windsor AGM: The Education Minister's Reception
                 March 10: Total PDT Confusion
                 March 01: OECTA PDT Contract Shocker
                 Feb 25: Education Minister Gets Frosty Reception


Scroll to bottom of this centre column to find my "Blog Archive". Stay tuned to this site for further updates.

OECTA  President Kevin Dwyer speaks to the press on supposed "secret" PDT. Rumours continue to fly.

School's Out! OECTA PDT! + TSU 3rd VP News!

School's out for summer!!! Well come Friday it is! After a busy, busy final two weeks, the summery sense of  relaxation and relief that my most favourite season brings, after another very challenging educational year, is most palatable. I can taste it indeed! Ha.


My blog will continue through the summer, on reduced hours, but I will still be here on a regular basis. I will keep you updated on any PDT developments. I will share my travelogues from Mexico and Cuba with you again, like in last summer's blogs, plus there could be a few other trips in the works. Stay tuned. For my non-Toronto readers I will continue my city blog postings. I was born here. I've lived here all my life. Let me share Toronto life with you from a local perspective. And for my local readers? Well perhaps you will get a chuckle from it too.


All this and more my friends! There should be a lot more photos, fun, and cool, summer stuff, so do drop in!


And in other news..........


No news on the OECTA PDT front. Talks continue. That is not necessarily reassuring in and of itself, but remember, the government's deadline for a settlement has long since passed without incident. We measure success in small steps but know that no large leaps forward have been made. There isn't any breakthrough. OECTA continues it's quiet diplomacy strategy of exhaustively discussing every reasonable solution, while standing firm in it's opposition to the terms being offered. There isn't, hasn't been, or won't be any secret PDT deal. Rumours continue to fly. I won't grace these, by reporting them here right now, they can be pretty absurd. Plus one has to wonder about the negative effect they can have upon group solidarity among the teacher affiliates. Our  opponents would get quite a chuckle watching any infighting possibly tear us apart from within. Beware.


The most of important of deadlines remains, August 31st, when our current contracts expire! What then? Do you return to work without a contract? Will you be locked out? Will the teacher affiliates vote in favour of work to rule, a strike or some other type of job action? We don't know. Our teachers are encouraged to complete their telephone tree forms, check the OECTA and TSU websites, and again, there's my blog site. We might have to be pretty creative with our communication strategy should everything hit the fan between now and August 31st. We did it during the Harris years. We can do it again, if need be. Hang on tight for the roller coaster ride ahead  next September.


Here are my new union portfolios, if you will, as TSU 3rd VP executive liaison.These commence with our new executive term starting July 1st for the 2012-13 school year:


Special Education: Yes, we are a full fledged committee now, nothing ad hoc about us anymore! I continue to also advocate for a new TCDSB-TSU Joint Special Education committee. It seems to be getting a very favourable and encouraging response, as an idea long overdue. Our field continues to grow and a continued joint communication, discussion, planning and problem solving committee can only help us all work together in the best interests of our specially challenged students. I am really excited about the prospect, and will continue to advocate and try to facilitate the process to make it happen asap!


Religious Affairs: The challenges this year have been many. As your TSU executive liaison I will continue to  work with the TCDSB NCC [Nurturing Catholic Community] committee. Superintendent Geoff Grant has extended a warm welcome to all of the faith partners in our community, including the unions, to bring us together. This can only be a good thing. Also I will continue to work with our members to express and advocate our shared beliefs as Catholic educators on our local TSU committee. You can go back through my blog archives. There's been quite a few postings going back as far as a year ago last March, which I would encourage you to revisit for more info. I look forward to working with everyone again. It can be a big uphill struggle. God bless you all.


Joint Safe Schools: Yup, I'm back on the committee after a one year sabbatical. School safety as per both the Safe Schools and Bill 168 Health and Safety Acts continue to be be a number one priority for me. Much, much more news and views on this to come, but for now, suffice to note, I am also on the.....


Joint Health and Safety Committee: This committee covers a very wide variety of issues, but I would like to point one out of great importance to my fellow [Sped] Special Education AU-DDME [Autism Developmentally Delayed Multiple Exceptionality] teachers. I am very concerned about proper health and safety procedures being in place in our classrooms accompanied with the comprehensive inservicing needed, for the care of our students! We need these in place, and we need them in all our classrooms across the board now! It would seem to be pretty clear cut but it is a huge challenge to which I am specially committed to on your behalf and of course for the very challenged students in our care.


Joint Medical Physical Procedures: Yup. Ditto. I will be developing this at a lot greater length here on my blog site as we get back into the new school year. These committees might sound kind of dull, but they are anything but!


No. I won't be executive liaison to the Beginning Teachers Committee. After a four year term. I am very pleased to announce that our new executive secretary Melissa Ammendola will be facilitating this for you next year. I know it is an area of direct interest and experience for Melissa. I most heartily offer my assistance, support and knowledge if and whenever required. I will miss you all [Boo Hoo Hoo!;-) but know Melissa will take TSU upwards and onwards with the tremendous enthusiasm and expertise our new and beginning teachers bring to the future of our union!


No. I won't be executive liaison for PAC [Political Advisory Committee]. I salute 2nd VP Gillian as she facilitates the good fight for us in the challenging field of government relations. This will be especially important next year, and perhaps for many more years to come. She can do it!


As an aside I would also like FB, LM and DS to know I have made a point of advocating for you. I consider our past political differences to be just that; past. You were fellow warriors in our great struggle during the Harris years. I am sure you will continue to make your contribution on any and all TSU committees to which you are appointed, as we all hopefully pull together in solidarity for the good of our unit during the possibly even bigger battle ahead!


So that's what I will be doing at TSU next year, along with whatever else comes along my way. Everybody's committee appointments are being sent out through the main office asap. Remember, when you receive them, you need to reply to confirm acceptance, so if you change your mind the next person in line gets a chance. There were many, many applications this year, which is great news, but of course that also means some very tough choices had to be made. If you are disappointed in anyway, please understand and know we managed to find something for everyone who applied, even if it wasn't always their first or second choice.


Please note that I will be personally contacting my committee members early in the new school year so we can plan our activities, create a budget and get working right away. I look forward to the pleasure of helping facilitate all your great work in the school year ahead. Please feel free to contact me anytime at my gmail address posted on the top of this page.


But first? We all earned a good rest and the summer holidays are all but here! Yippie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy! Busy! Busy! But on June 29th -School's Out for Summer!!!

What Was Said: A Secret OECTA PDT Deal?!?

ETFO and some in OSSTF  were saying they believed a deal was to be signed last Friday by 4pm. We are nowhere close to that. OECTA President Kevin O’Dwyer has indicated to OECTA presidents that the issues identified are not accurate and clearly no deal has been signed.

The information sent out by ETFO  reflects somewhat positions stated by the government from the outset. ETFO is not at the table and so comments about Government talks by them are speculation. Efforts like these undermine solidarity and confidence and are not consistent with OECTA bargaining practice.

It is unfortunate that ETFO has chosen to act in this manner. The challenge we face with our affiliate partners remain but we must focus on every effort to build solidarity and move forward. [sic]

OECTA's response is to ETFO President's Sam Hammond's message to his local presidents which was leaked earlier. It reads: 

It has come to my attention that OECTA is close to reaching a Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) deal with the government and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association (OCSTA). An OECTA deal will potentially affect the welfare of all teachers in the province. Despite repeated requests, OECTA has not advised ETFO about the content of their ongoing discussions with the government and the OCSTA.

If the current information is accurate the potential OECTA PDT deal is not one that would be acceptable to ETFO. We have been advised from a number of sources that the OECTA PDT deal includes, but is not limited to, the following components:

The deal will address the government parameters only 10 days of sick leave at 100% salary, that do not accumulate from year to year. 124 additional days of sick leave at 66 and 2/3% salary. 2 unpaid PA Days in 2012-13. 4 unpaid PA Days in 2013-14. Extending the salary grid to 15 years. No salary increase in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Agreement that the grid will be restructured for 2014. We are uncertain re the status of retirement gratuities but few OECTA local collective agreements include gratuities so forfeiting them would not be as detrimental as it would be to ETFO members.
It appears that there will be limited opportunity to bargain local issues.

The details in this email are based on the information that is available at this time. We will provide you with additional information when it becomes available. OECTA has continually refused to disclose the issues they are negotiating with the government and OCSTA. The information provided here is from multiple sources that we believe to be credible.

We continue to be committed to maintaining the integrity of ETFO local collective agreements and to bargain collective agreements at the local level. This information may be shared with ETFO members. [sic]

Commentary: Let's be big boys and girls here. The above statements are hardly secret or confidential anymore. They have been sent out and distributed to tens of thousands of ETFO and OECTA members. Please do not get angry and claim that I am "spilling the beans". Readers have been visiting my site non-stop for the past 24 hours or so seeking information.

Please know: OECTA does not bargain in public nor make public statements about private talks as a part of it's "Quiet Diplomacy" approach to any negotiation talks. This is nothing new. It is how OECTA does business. So I don't see why that should now suddenly suggest we are hiding anything or trying to make secret deals despite what the flurry of accusations and innuendo suggest.

There hasn't been any indication until now, at our local executive level, or in my discussions with my various OECTA contacts, that there are any outstanding conflicts between the different teacher affiliates, who despite their different strategies, have all collectively refused the government's PDT offer, OECTA included. That is until now, with this. Please don't start pointing any fingers our way. Any about face in PDT strategy, especially at this most delicate of times, is not OECTA's style. We are always quite steadfast and true.

OECTA has categorically denied that there is any truth to the rumours, as summarized in OECTA TSU President Rene Jansen's statement to our members above. Indeed there has been nothing in recent weeks to suggest that we were anywhere near a deal with the PDT talks whatsoever.

As you know, rumours of an impending Ontario provincial summer election fly. Premier McGuinty could visit the Govenor General within the next two days. The writ could then well be dropped for a July 19 Ontario Provincial government, if we are to believe the unfolding news stories, as I write this blog.

If anything, the mere suggestion that the Liberals would consider an election gambit at this point in time is, one fears, a clear sign that their party strategists think they can go it alone without our teacher support. The Liberal government's PDT demands may appeal to a soft conservative vote that has always liked it when the Conservative Party have gone after us in a similar manner. They might support the Liberal's should they call a snap election. However the demands remain unacceptable to all the teacher affiliates, OECTA included. We will not fearfully change our position.

I seriously doubt that any of us could rally our OECTA members to support a Liberal election campaign now, even if a "secret deal" were suddenly reached. The trust, since this spring, just is not there.

Anything else? This is strictly my guess: Should a summer election be called watch for OECTA to only offer support to a Liberal riding that is in great danger of a Conservative win. The Conservatives, as per our "Who Speaks for Student's?" campaign are still clearly the least pro-education of the 3 main Ontario political parties. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of NDP support, perhaps even in an instance where it is so close that they could snatch a seat from the Liberal government. With exam time upon us and summer holidays approaching, this is all very speculative of course. It would seem unlikely to me that we could do much if anything to rally our members to any side, should we so wish, as we all head out the school door for summer vacation.

What a mess! There are a lot of big political gambles being made. An OECTA "secret deal" with the Ontario Liberals isn't one of them! Any such gamble especially at this point in time, if ever, is unsound at best, and can only muddy the all ready unclear state of Ontario education politics now, for the summer, and in the fall ahead. For shame to believe otherwise!

PS: Comments to this blog are being posted without prejudice as long as they contribute to the discussion by providing further information or clarification of a constructive nature. Thanks.