Teacher Free Speech Summer 2015 Contract Guide!

My Blogsite Acronym Guide is @ Here! 

September 1, 2015

Details on the OECTA ratification vote:

At their Special Meeting today, the OECTA Council of Presidents voted to accept the Tentative Agreement proposed by the Provincial negotiating team and the Provincial Executive and to recommend it to the membership for ratification.  Tomorrow morning the details of the Tentative Agreement and a summary will be available on the Members’ site of the OECTA web page.  On Thursday, a video summary of the proposed settlement will also be posted.

On Monday September 14 at 4:30, TSU will host a General Meeting at the Ontario Federation of Labour Building (15 Gervais Dr.) to review the proposal and deal with questions.   On September 10, voting credentials will be sent to all members for internet voting (remember to record your number!)  Voting on the Tentative Agreement will take place Thursday September 17 – all day.  More details will follow.

August 25, 2015

OECTA tentative deal reached! Code of Silence remains tightly in effect with few to no details. Many members report only finding out about the deal from the media again like in 2012. I have it on good word that OECTA was determined not to sign a deal before any of the other affiliates this time around. Wonder if that's significant with the timing? @ Blog w/ Links!

August 20, 2015

OSSTF reaches a tentative deal!!! President Elliott dedicates a lot of his speech to the "Heave Steve" agenda. Wonder if that is a part of the [unofficial] deal? Trudeau Libs could be in bug trouble in Ontario come the October federal election! News links, video and commentary continues on my blog @ Here!!!

ETFO Sam Hammond announces ETFO WTR Phase 2 strategy @ Link

MOE Education Sector Bargaining Labour Info and Updates @ Link

August 18, 2015

See and hear ETFO President Sam Hammond's opening address for yourself at the union's 2015 Annual Meeting. This year's theme is "Bargaining for the Future, Respecting Our Past" @ Hammond

Visit the three main teacher union sites for info on the key issues in the tortured MOE OPSBA contract talks: OECTA @ Here! ETFO @ Here! OSSTF @ There!

August 14, 2015

OECTA resumed talks August 12 + 13th. ETFO and OSSTF are scheduled for August 18 + 19th. MOE Sandals continues to insist a deal is possible before classes resume in September. Apparantly the unions were at an impasse, OECTA having amost reached a deal before exhausting the possibilities. ETFO and OSSTF had been insisting they would not return until key demands for teacher concessions were removed from the table.

What's really going on?!? Links to follow, also see below .....

More timely news links are also being forwarded during summer hours via my twitter acount @davdchiarelli

August 6, 2015

AEFO enters conciliation @ Globe

What is "Conciliation?" A "No-Board" report?!? Answers @ Here

CUPE's 55,000 education support workers will now also be in a position to join teacher fall strike actions too @ CUPE

CUPE Local 2537 expresses our education support workers frustration at being ignored by the government during the teacher labour talks to date @ CUPE

Commentary:

The perfect storm continues to unfold as AEFO and CUPE now also move into position for job actions this fall. WTR seems to be the first and most immediate strategy on most minds. Barring any surprise OLP collaboration, and surprise deals, the teachers and education workers would seem to have created a formidable front to further their "no concession bargaining" goals during the difficult school year head.

Some suggested "look fors": 

As in the spring, the Wynne majority Liberal government will be mightily tempted to legislate rather than negotiate their unacceptable demands in the form of a new contract. Meet the new Mike Harris OLP! It could even prove a popular move with the public, to the detriment of the cause, when done so alongside the continued teacher bashing media campaign being carried out by the OPSBA. 

Watch for the teacher unions to use strike action sparingly at first, with widespread prolonged strike actions possibly used moreso as a part of the "end game" for an arbitrated settlement, or to mount another lengthy, constitutional challenge, which could possibly prove much more iffy for the OLP!

Watch for OPSBA to promptly attempt to resume the public boards OLRB case, still unresolved from 2013, over whether EC's should be considered voluntary or not @ [Link]

The right to exercise civil disobedience, like the right to strike are democratic principles that cannot be excluded from the teacher strategic arsenal as all else fails. Fickleness, a Vichy Mentality, government collaboration, and/or going it alone for one's own advantage have often crippled Ontario's teacher union movement in the past. Experience has definitely taught that responsible, and committed unionists will need to remain eternally vigilant lest we get sold out by our "leaderships" backroom deals again. With the stakes so high, there won't be another next time this time around .....

Wynne majority gov't settles comfortably into office! Hey! No wait! That's .....

July 23, 2015

OECTA President Ann Hawkins tells the Toronto Star that the Catholic teacher union was close to a deal in June;

After 14 days of bargaining in June, we were very positive. We thought we were close to a deal. But their last pass to us actually went backwards. So I had to say to them, we’re going to be exercising our options. We’re hoping that they get serious and provide us with a proposal that I could actually get ratified. [Link]

The OECTA Code of Silence is still firmly in place at the uppermost of the toppermost! There's no reference to this, ahem, little detail .... in any of the OECTA "Strike Updates" sent by the union to keep rank and file members in the loop and up to date. Not in June. Not now. But Ann tells the Toronto Star. Interesting slip up!

July 16, 2015

In it's July 15th confidential strike update emailed to members July 15 and leaked by The Daily Observer [Link], OECTA provided guidelines for it's anticipated September work-to-rule campaign. The email claims that the “goal is to obtain a negotiated settlement.”

The 33 regulations include 28 services teachers are to withdraw. Among these are:

• Not participating in the preparation of report card comments.
• Not being permitted to take work materials home – all marking, planning and preparation within the 300-minute instructional day.
• Not attending meetings or undertake tasks related to any Ministry of Education initiatives.
• Not attending staff meetings, department meetings, divisional meetings, curriculum nights, meet-the-teacher nights, parent/teacher interviews or any other such activity.
• Not to mentor or provide extra help during lunch or prep time, or outside of the regular class schedule.

There is a "Catholic exception": OECTA teachers will be permitted to participate in the "sacramental preparation of students" during their 300-minute instructional day.

For a full list see the OECTA Memo @ Here!

OECTA would seem to have exhausted their sole focus on the PDT talk option to their satisfaction. With OSSTF announcing that their WTR strategy kicks in on July 20th @ Star, all 3 major Ontario teacher unions are now in virtual lock step for a province wide WTR, public and Catholic, when classes resume this fall! 

July 2, 2015

This blog continues my indie coverage of the Ontario teacher and education worker union contract talks. It provides a DIY guide to resource materials and news links so you can follow the progress or lack thereof to date. You can review the resources, info and news links to date for last spring @ Here! Last winter @ There! Last fall @ Here! Last summer @ There! 

Also, my Teacher Free Speech Guide to Bill 122 [CB Act] 2014 is @ Bill 122

Possibly, there will be little to report until we approach September. We will have to wait to see. Please continue to check back, and use the Comment space below. All hell could break lose, like with the surprise OECTA MOU on July 5, 2012. If so, this will be a very busy summer blog indeed!

Meanwhile, contract stripping and management control issues still continue to dominate teacher union concerns. There has been very little noticeable progress on either. The Wynne OLP has clearly demonstrated that they would rather legislate than negotiate a deal. OPSBA has been actively engaged in an ongoing disinformation and teacher bashing media campaign. AEFO, CUPE, ETFO, OECTA, OSSTF face little option but to advise their members to prepare for widespread teacher strike actions when classes resume this fall.

This spring saw the province's collective teacher union membership exercise overwhelming strike action votes within the mid nineties range. OSSTF's "Magnificent 7" strategy [Here!] launched the first local teacher strikes at targeted boards across the province. Meanwhile ETFO moved forward with the first two stages of it's administrative WTR plan [Phase 1] [2]. OECTA handed out buttons and by the end of June had filed for conciliation too, like ETFO and OSSTF. See @ [CTV][CNW][Star]. 

You will find the latest new links added above as they become available over the course of the summer holidays. Stay tuned!

We live in very interesting times indeed! My latest teacher union and political party news coverage also continues on the Teacher Free Speech Summer News + Views blog @ []. Coverage of the important developments this year to date can be found throughout my monthly news and views blogs @ Jan @ Feb @ March @ April @ May and @ June

Thucydides [500 BC] warned that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. Don't let that be you! As responsible teacher free speech unionists, we want to support the strike effort, but to do so knowledgeably, with our eyes wide open, even though any real "hard information" is often not forthcoming [Here!]. You will find my Teacher Free Speech News Archive Link 2011-15 useful to help understanding what happened before, over the years; the good, the bad and the ugly, so we hopefully won't repeat the same problems again. Explore as need be @ Teacher News Archive!

Finally, no matter how trying it gets in the days ahead, always remember, we NEED teacher unions, but ones that truly serve their members first, foremost and always, for we are the union. So, of course, we support our union strike actions to secure a fair and just contract deal, according to our traditional union values. However at the same time, as responsible, well educated and concerned members we mustn't also be afraid to think, discuss, talk and ask questions, while we educate ourselves and others to try to make sure that is so. Let's keep our teacher unions on track working on our best behalf! Here then is why you need a teacher union @ Link!

In Solidarity!

David C


COMMENTS:

Schools Out: Summer Blogging Notes!

My summer motto this year, if I had one, might well be "Gone Fishin'". However, that wouldn't be completely true for a number of very good reasons. Let me explain.

Summer arrived to Toronto in no uncertain terms on the afternoon of June 20th with a heavy, thick, sticky cloud of smog and humidity promptly descending upon the city. Took little more convincing to send me packing back to the Land o' Lakes [Link]. It's 3 hours east of Toronto, in south eastern Ontario, way off in the woods, atop the Canadian shield. I've been camped out at our place there for about a month now. The days are pleasant, if not rather cool this year, usually topping off at 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. Nights can dip dangerously close to the single digits even now. It's been fairly rainy, especially on weekends. None of that matters much to me. Retired now, I come and go from our air-conditioned home away from home out in the country, travelling with the weather and against traffic, as I please. 

Do I have any regrets? Very few! Even a cool summer in Land o' the Lakes can be mighty nice! Why? In Canada we get 4 very distinct seasons. In each, one can experience nature in all it's full blown glory. The summer country air like the towering forests and the clear lake water are clean, fresh and invigorating for the heart and soul. There are a zillion stars at night! The true north comes alive in all it's majesty. Make no mistake: a little too hot or too cold -no matter! Either way, there is little finer than a Canadian summer beyond the smoggy, humid confines of big city life. 

So, summer finds me very much a "Nature Man", if you will. Yup! I'm out enjoying Lake Mississaganon in my kayak, paddling here and there, diving with the fish. Or on a fishing boat with the lads enjoying the sunset as they cast a line. Reel a few in. But damn! That looks like it hurts a lot, when they reel in another big Pickerel or Bass with a sharp, nasty hook stuck in it's gills or down the ol' gullet! 

I'm afraid, despite every ones protestations to the contrary, that's not for me! It's not that I don't eat meat. I plain just don't like to catch and eat fish. I'm quite content to just swim with them underwater in their natural habitat instead. Enjoying the steep, rugged rock formations. The sparkling, clear, blue depths. The lazy schools of fish swimming to and fro. So when I say I've "gone fishing", what that really means is that I'm just off diving in the lake. Checking the fish out. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just to get this straight ...

Other than that? Here's my Land o' Lakes routine: Sleep. Kayak. Swim. Kayak. Swim. BBQ. Campfire. Party. Repeat. Also for variety maybe include: hike, read, yak idly and listen to music, but that's about it! 

As for life in the big city? Family and friends come and go from our place all the time, with or without me. Life here at our home in Toronto goes on unabated, busy as can be. For now, our home is turned upside down as the contractor and work crew renovate the kitchen, re-tile our floors, and give the place a fresh coat of paint. It's got me running back and forth a fair bit, but I know it will be nice for when autumn rolls around again, and it's time to cocoon indoors again.

So far, it's been a very busy year! Janet and I have travelled far and wide, on numerous occasions, as frequently reported here. The Cuban School Project continues! As does all the other writing and activity on my blogsite. A lot of the focus has been on the Ontario teacher strikes which now seem headed for a big showdown this fall. 

I'm ready! I've got my brand new conga drum. Am raring to go! I planned to use it on the Tim Hudak PC's, but no matter, it seems the Wynne OLP have decided to take their place in the Neo Lib/ Neo Con [take your pick!] canon. We are probably going to be very busy, so more down time is definitely in order! 

My Teacher Free Speech blogsite will continue throughout the summer, as usual, if not at a reduced pace, as I will indeed be "gone fishin'" a lot to enjoy our Canadian summer while it lasts! Without doubt, you will be looking forward to a break from all things school related too, but please, do still drop by! Here is what you can look forward to:

My Teacher Free Speech July News and Views Blog and Summer Contract Guide will continue, business as usual, though perhaps at a much slower rate, depending upon the pace of the news, as well as my own coming and goings. Contract wise, we might well expect this summer to be a snoozefest, with all hell about to break forth come September, when we will also be headed into a very important federal election. 

A proviso though: I will project a one in five chance that there could be either a surprise breakthrough in the contract talks. Or a one in three or four chance that somebody will jump the gun again with a side deal or some other such surprise. 

Let's not be naive: Experience has shown that some such seismic event could still ruthless tear assunder our summer news slumber. If so, check back here el pronto. I know I will, to report. Otherwise? Ease up and relax too! You will need the rest!

On my other blog fronts, I have a few almost ready to launch. It is the "Kulture Kult Ink" features, rather than my teacher news, that remains of interest to many of my other non teacher readers. I still aim to please, despite the preoccupation with all things teacher unionish as of late. 

I still haven't completed my Bob Marley or Beatle's series. There's a Rolling Stones blog almost ready to go. More Cuba stories. Maybe some more music and book reviews. Dunno. I often end up doing some writer wood shedding on rainy days out by the lake, so there could be a lot more. Or maybe not. It all depends upon how the spirit moves me.

So this summer, please do continue to drop by! See what's new! Explore my news archives [Link] at your leisure! Use the Comment space below each blog or gmail me at my address on the top bar as need be. Also remember, guest blogs are always welcome [Link]! Otherwise? On with the Nature Man Summer in Canada show ...

COMMENTS:

OSSTF: Right to Strike!

OSSTF Update Vol. 42 No. 8 [From Twitter]

OUR RIGHT TO STRIKE, THEIR CHOICE NOT TO BARGAIN

As we have moved through this round of bargaining, some members of the public have referenced OSSTF/FEESO as a “powerful union” that has control over the government and school boards. If that were the case, negotiated settlements at all local tables and the provincial table would have been reached months ago.

The reality is that the only power that we have as a union to move toward a fair, negotiate settlement is our legal right to strike. Recent actions by the government and school boards have now put our rights in jeopardy.

Their combined actions point to a clear agenda on their part: don’t bargain. They have left it up to other commissions and legislative means to all but force another contract upon us. Through these government powers and obscure bodies, the management team has sought to erode our right to strike; the only real power and leverage we legally have to get to a fair deal.

Despite their assertions that they support the negotiations process, the Wynne Government and various chairs of school boards have turned to other means to force resolutions rather than talking it out at the bargaining table. Their tool box is full of legal gadgets at their disposal. One is the Ontario Labour Relations Board, which can be used by any party in negotiations to help resolve disputes. The school boards have already used that one to their advantage.

But, there are other more exclusive tools that they can use. The Education Relations Commission, made up of government appointees, has determined that the school year was in jeopardy in three boards. More imposing is the majority that the Wynne Government holds in the legislature. The government has the ability to pass any law that it chooses.

Make no mistake, the management team is using those weapons to destroy the only means of defense that we have to preserve our working conditions and the learning conditions for students: the right to strike.

This addiction to using legislation rather than negotiation to settle contracts has been all too frequent in recent years. The Harper Conservatives did this to Canada Post employees in 2011, and then again to Air Canada workers twice, both in 2011 and 2012. McGuinty legislated TTC workers back after less than two days on the picket lines in 2008. The threat of legislative interference in the bargaining process reaches both the public and private sectors. Did we forget to mention Bill 115?

If you are a school board, OPSBA or the government, you have far more legislative power than those “powerful” unions. The right to strike is the only check and balance in the negotiating process to stop management from eroding our working conditions and student learning conditions. If that right disappears, workers will be left powerless to negotiate fair deals. The right to strike is worth protecting and fighting for.

Kathleen + Mike: OLP Comes Full Circle!

COMMENTARY

OSSTF's Magnificent 7 Strikes were far from futile, despite the province's decision to legislate the teachers back to work rather than try to negotiate a new contract deal, 9 months after the last MOU expired. Rather, the strikes served to put them on notice that the teachers are not fooled, nor cowered into wasting any more time with their stalling tactics at the CB table and the teacher smear campaign being carried out visa the mass media. The province has certainly shown it's true hand, and it's not a helping one extended in the spirit of co-operation to reach a fair and properly negotiated deal!

It is a sad state of affairs when the public dialogue on our constitutional rights, in this case our right to strike, is so easily mocked and blown off at our great peril as a fair and just society. Likewise, to see a seeming socially progress leader like Premier Wynne fall so quickly in line with the neo Lib corporate reform agenda for Ontario, once the Hudak Harris PC neo con's were defeated. The OLP has been grievously rewarded with the teachers election help, in a majority government where power corrupts, and indeed absolute power corrupts so absolutely. 

The unions will do well to continue to pursue a constitutional challenge to Bill 115. Also to monitor the BC teacher court developments. One hopes that legal recourse to the "law of the land" might still save the day. In the meantime, the stage has decisively been set for province wide teacher strikes across Ontario this fall. OSSTF has clearly outlined the Neo Lib "management" intransigence to date above. Regretfully, responsible "civil disobedience" must now also be considered as a part of the teacher strike tool kit should the OLP continue to attack teachers and not play with good intent by the rules!

Further Reading: 

OSSTF: Magnificent 7 strategy is outlined @ Here!

The OLRB, ERC and back to work legislation, as well as the provinces teacher smear campaign is documented with links especially in my Teacher Free Speech May and June News and Views blogs @ May and @ June

COMMENTS:                                                                                                                

                

Teacher Free Speech News Archive 2011-15!

My Blogsite Acronym Guide is @ Here! 

Thucydides 500 BC: "Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it"

Recently, Ontario's teacher unions including AEFO, ETFO, OECTA, OSSTF and CUPE representing our education workers, met to plan for the widely anticipated province wide strike actions this fall. This is to be lauded, despite the strange bedfellows it might sometimes make, and of course one hopes that they proceed with caution.

Regretfully, our teacher unions accepted contract stripping in 2012-13. Our badly comprimised credibility and bargaining position shows that we are paying the price. Some will argue that once that line was crossed by one union, the others had no choice but to follow suit. However, responsible civil disobedience when need be, no longer seems to be a part of our protest lexicon. And truth be told, most of the affiliates have backed down on strike actions or seen their leadership defect to work for the government or school boards, since the province wide protest strike during the late 1990's against the Harris government. It would be foolish for us as members not to exercise critical thinking and be aware of what has happened before, as we embark on our latest all important protest endeavour.

In keeping with Thucydide's wise warning, one of the main features of this site is the "Teacher Free Speech News Link Archive" from 2011-15. It is located at the top left of my site for your convenience. There are over 600 blogs available for your perusal, listed in chronological order and accessible by the click of a button.

The purpose here is not to unnecessarily spread doubt or stoke any lingering animosity. Rather, by recognizing what has happened before, we can better avoid making the same mistakes again. Solidarity should not be something we naively blubber about as we hug each other and promise to "fight the good fight" together, only to end up feeling betrayed again. It needs to be informed so we can learn from our past mistakes and NOT repeat them again. It requires you, as a union member, to also be informed from a wide variety of points of view, and to be able to think for yourself. You are an educated teacher professional. Indeed, one doubts you would expect anything less from our own students let alone yourselves and each other.

Not everyone will agree. In times like these we will invariably be told to believe and do as we are told by our union leaders, elected or otherwise, for the cause. Sometimes to blindly follow the herd, to ill effect, as we have see on numerous occasions in the past. One is reminded of another timely quote from Voltaire, "to learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize."

It is important ot be able to question authority. We know that only too well from our own experiences with the MOE, and from over the years with each of the Ontario political parties; the OLP, PC's and NDP. Also remember, you are the union. It should be working for you, not the other way around. When you are not welcome to monitor, question or freely discuss how the union "powers that be" are doing so, then something is very, very wrong.

Please avail yourself of and share my teacher Free Speech Achives as need be, and as you see fit. 

In solidarity!

David C

PS: Please also see "Teacher Free Speech + Grassroot Renewal" @ Here!

COMMENTS: 

Teacher Free Speech June News + Views!

Summer is almost here! Welcome to the 600th blog on my site! News + Views Updates are later included in large type. My Blogsite Acronym Guide is @ Here! 

TEACHER + UNION

OECTA files for conciliation, paving the way for a fall strike action too @ Star

OPSBA President Michael Barrett claims ETFO has asked for a $3.2 billion raise, including 3% a year plus the cost of living [COLA]. He also claims that the trustees aren't demanding class caps be removed at the elementary level, rather all they want is "common class size language across the province". ETFO President Sam Hammond replies that they are just trying to divert public attention from the "no report cards" debacle, which seems to have blown up in their face @ Star

Barrett's 3% + COLA figure also appears in OECTA's initial proposal @ Guide

Toronto Sun happily jumps on side with the OPBSA to try to boil strike arguments down to the lowest common denominator its teacher bashing neo con readers can understand; bean counting @ Blizzard

Special need students are taking a big hit across the province with the MOE's special ed funding cuts. $22.5 million has been cut from 38 school boards. Gee, a little raise in the corporate tax rate could easily take care of that but no no! Lay off more teachers, EA's and CYW's instead [not!] @ GSN

Parents are reminded to consider alternative daycare arrangements for this fall in case CUPE staff end up walking out in support of teachers @ CUPE 2544

Former Harris Education Minister [and we use the title lightly, too bad he never finished high school himself] John "The Snow Man" Snobelen hears ETFO has "cancelled" report cards. Without a fact check he recommends the teachers be locked out, without pay, for the summer, to teach them a lesson @ Creating Crisis!

ETFO counters that it has not tabled their salary position yet. The focus of the stalled CB talks has been on learning conditions @ Hammond

ETFO's Sam Hammond: very busy deflecting the BS!

Saving Face: The other boards back down on not issuing report card marks after TDSB reverses it's decision @ Failed!

Grand Erie board to cut 35 jobs. Declining enrolment and MOE funding cuts cited. Any gains, in student numbers, have "stabilized" now that FDK has been implemented @ $$$?

What do the TDSB and the Hamilton Wentworth boards have in common? A "culture of fear and mistrust" @ HWDSB

Hooray? Private schools don't employ big bad union teachers! Booo! They don't have any oversight in Ontario, where the MOU has no regulatory power over them @ Anything Goes?

Guess what?! OLP real culprits in teacher contract disputes. Here's why @ Northumberland

Management's teacher full scale smear campaign is not helpful in understanding the real issues at stake @ Ottawa

Public school teachers rally outside the OPSBA AGM in Collingwood on Saturday June 12th @ Rally!

OSSTF issues a solidarity message on the 21st month anniversary of the Toronto USW 9176 Crown Plant Can strike. OECTA teachers rallied outside the plant gates Saturday while their public school colleagues were protesting the OPSBA in Collingwood. OECTA Provincial Executive's OTF Table Officer Julie Pauletig and OECTA Governor Mike Wozniak were in attendance along with York OECTA 1st VP Filomena Ferraro's crew, and yours truly, in an independent teacher free speech role. All present had a wonderful time. Some even held up trucks extra long, toying with if not yet crossing into civil disobedience, as a dry run for ..... well who knows what?!? With QP on summer vacation, and scab workers keeping the beer cans rolling, the 120 workers look to a long hot summer ahead. They urge you to support their boycott by buying your beer and soft drinks in BOTTLES NOT CANS! More @ Boycott!

Who says ETFO isn't providing marks?!? For both for students and the trustees??? Yup! Sleep tight! Besides submitting final student marks, the ETFO members have also given the OPSBA an "F" for Bargaining @ "F" = F...

Helpless? The elementary panel for 3 of Ontario's 72 public school boards notify parents that they won't be able to issue final report cards this month blaming it on the ETFO WTR campaign. The boards are the TDSB @ Here! York @ Here! Peel @ Here!

The Handy Man: This Toronto Star column readily championed the boards' "teacher blame game" with an dreadfully, unbalanced story leading to a handy round of teacher basing for the OLP @ Cohn

Teacher deconstructs Cohn's argument point by point, showing that it is actually the boards, not the teachers, who are holding back the marks @ Ben Babcock More also @ Cayla Hochberg

How long does it take a principal to input the marks anyway? Much less than they claim @ CTV Kitchener

TCDSB dumps on the principals who dump back on the trustees for now telling parents that they can call the principals at school to get the students' final marks they have but don't have but ...... but .... but ... Well, go figure!? More @ Very "perplexing"!

Toronto principals feel overwhelmed with the notion of report card calls from concerned parents requesting their kids final marks. Which marks? The ones the teachers gave them. Ooops! @ More Perplexing!

Notice all the neo lib trolls on line these days trying to pick very senseless and inane fights just for the titillating sense of instant gratification that a little teacher bashing seems to bring their depraved minds? What to do?!? I'd say consider the source, then ignore them. However, a perusal of the "Crumudgucation: Directory of Anti-Teacher Trolls" is certainly in order! Know thy trolls: There's the Confused Baloney Troll! The Business Troll! The Race to the Bottom Troll! The Accountability Troll! The Unlikely Anecdote Troll! The Damn Union Troll! The Sad Bitter Memory Troll and ... and ... and ... well the list goes on and on @ Beware of Trolls!

Nothing new really: remember this story from earlier in the month? ETFO teachers will, of course, submit marks, but the OPSBA chair had been rattling the teacher bashing chains with claims final report cards still can't go home. Now the Toronto Star has come to the trustees rescue in getting this very misleading and inflammatory BS out @ Barrett

Define irony? Wynne OLP's celebrate the first anniversary of their landslide victory while teachers protest outside their annual AGM in Collingwood; the same teacher's who helped them win in the first place! Widespread teacher strikes are expected this fall. So far the OLP response has been to legislate not negotiate. One wonders if civil disobedience, a time honoured democratic tradition when all else fails, is not now in order? @ 1 Year

Premier Wynne reverts to the tired old "Big Bad Tory" script for the party faithful as teachers protest outside OLP AGM and anger continues to rise over the decision to sell off 60% of Ontario Hydro to the corporate big boy$ @ Wynne

AEFO votes 93% in favour of strike action according to #VoterOuiAEFO!

OSSTF asks for a conciliator as a prelude to a full blown fall province wide strike effecting up to 2 million students. More on the AEFO vote too @ OSSTF + AEFO

OECTA President James Ryan warns that there isn't a lot of time to negotiate during the summer. He expects OECTA would begin a fall strike with WTR. The teacher union heads have all met to coordinate their activities for this fall @ Ryan

Who wants to remove caps on class size: the trustees or the OLP? Is MOE Sandals playing the "Blame Game" now? More @ QP

Do our Ontario schools really include special need and aboriginal children? They are all ready being badly underserviced according to this latest report. Imagine, once class caps are removed @ CTV

With summer holidays, teachers will miss the students, but not all the paperwork. Too bad when it invariably gets in the way of actually teaching, but it seems nobody cares about that anymore, in the never ending pursuit for more and more academic excellence [ie: testing etc.]. A retiree looks back @ Paperwork!

Premier Wynne continues to pander to her corporate bosses by underfunding education to balance the budget @ MacKay

After a brutal, arbitrary slash and burn, the TCDSB has balanced it's budget and has a surplus now, in the mystery shell game of "money, money where is the missing money" @ TCD$B

OECTA TSU Prez Dave Sollosy: Staff is not a disposable commodity!

Corporate Biz: OECTA President Dave Sollosy describes the TCDSB's new, improved, budget cutting "modus operandi": Staff is treated as a dispensable commodity that can be simply erased from it's ledger. Then there's the highly questionable numbers and math. The board logic? It seems to be that "maintenance" is more important that "mission"; now it's a Catholic school board that just exists to protect it's own sorry ass [er ... my words! Simply put ... ]. It's a thought provoking read, on pg 6 of the unit's "TS*You" newsletter @ OECTA TSU

TCDSB superintendent Loretta Notten becomes the first female Director of Education for the Waterloo County Catholic board @ KW Record

ETFO school administrators will be scrambling to complete report cards, while MOE Sandals laments the union's latest WTR measures @ ETFO

ETFO ups the teacher strike ante with additional administrative WTR measures @ CTV  See the list @ Memo

ETFO, like OSSTF, OECTA and the CUPE educational workers have been 9 months without a contract @ CBC See doc @ Memo

Liz explains all: Sure we wanted to negotiate! This much!!!

OLP MOE passes "Bill 103: Protecting the School Year Act" ordering the province's OSSTF teachers back to work until September. Read the text @ Bill

Here is the text of the earlier OLRB ruling, imposing a 2 week moratorium on the OSSTF teacher strikes @ 0378-15-U

Read All About It: ETFO Queens Park coverage of the educational issues raised last week as Bill 103 was passed is very comprehensive @ ETFO

An all affiliate teacher protest rally outside the OLP AGM in Collingwood is apparently being planned for June 6th. However, if true it is getting late and the details not widely available or well known ......

Educational Nuclear Strike: This article argues that the OLP MOE's controversial new 2 tiered CB process is apparently nothing new, it's all ready used by the Ontario auto industry and the province's public service sector. As for teachers, it's been evolving over the course of our last 2 contract negotiations. The real money issue is depicted as a budgetary one for the OLP. As a part of their austerity agenda, they want to better manage costs by removing the caps on class size. For teachers, the caps create jobs. Removing the caps also badly undermines work conditions. There's a lot of food for thought here. Unfortunately, the teacher unions are not interviewed. Instead we get OPSBA's Mike Barrett's uncontested claim that the teachers would drop a lot of the other pressing issues for a 2% pay raise! The long and short? If negotiations fail under the OLP's CB process during the summer we are looking at an "all or nothing" style "nuclear option"; a huge province wide strike this fall @ TVO Agenda

The "Nuclear Option"

Austerity Binge: This article considers how the OLP's apparent concern with "saving the student's school year" actually aims to criminalize the teacher strike actions so that they can strip our right to strike in order to facilitate their big business driven austerity agenda. The teacher unions are accused of collaborating with the Ontario Liberals to facilitate the process from Harris through Wynne in a "phony union war" staged for the members and public consumption. Even the NDP are complicit in the sell out process @ WSWS.ORG

Toronto Star fluff piece tries to argue that strikes lack glamour and are now obsolete. Just like constitutional rights eh? Sad times @ Salutin

Teacher blogger suggests that maybe it's time we start including more labour history in our social study courses at school @ Rabble.ca

Why are teacher unions good, despite all the bad MOE press? They demonstrably improve standards within our Canadian schools @ Star

Why should parents care about teacher cuts? We do a heckuva lot more than teach the 3 "R"s to your children @ Huffington

BTW: Don't miss "Ontario Teacher's" hilarious comic take of going on's at QP! They use the popular "shred" technique of overdubbing commentary on existing cartoon footage to quite funny and insightful effect. See the bottom of this blog for some other unrelated examples that are more "Kulture Kult Inclined". "Ontario Teacher" is @ Youtube Shreds

OECTA President James Ryan is hopeful that the Catholic teachers can avoid a strike next fall but WTR seems unavoidable. Meanwhile, MOE Sandals claims that the teachers just have to "cool down". How ironic! This is coming from a MOE whom with the trustees has done little but stoke the strike fires all spring, preferring to legislate rather than negotiate with the province's teachers @ Blackburn

OECTA Sudbury Elementary President Kent MacNeill compares the province's CB game to a "Monopoly" board in which the MOE team keep changing the rules @ Monopoly

Read the OECTA memo advising the members to prepare for possible strike action this fall @ blog

OSSTF's Paul Elliott verses OPBSA's Mike Barrett: The class size issue as a matter of "guidelines" verses "caps" @ Caps

People for Ed's Annie Kidder, former Ed Minister Dave Cook and the Drummond Report are all quoted to argue that class size is not as significant as teachers know it is from our own direct, first hand experience @ Windsor Star

Not afraid of a little bad weather: CUPE's Fred Hahn + OSSTF Peel's Mike Bettoil!

OSSTF Peel Prez Mike Bettoil lists the local issues at stake in the unit's 3 week 2 day local strike; Health and Safety vis a vis violence against teachers [in the school workplace], teacher performance appraisals, and job security. Provincial President Paul Elliott notes that with back to work legislation, these teachers' issues remain unresolved. The frustration is quite palpable. The removal of the teachers right to strike is described as a Charter of Rights issue, though I don't believe a charter challenge has been announced yet. Also interesting; summer school teachers won't be able to strike either @ Rabble.ca

Meanwhile in Alberta: newly elected NDP Premier Rachel Notley NDP restores the former Conservative government's 2012-16 school year cuts. Also, the teachers' previously negotiated a 2% raise and 1% lump sum which will now be finally honoured @ Rachel

Meanwhile in La Belle Province: Sex Ed curriculum is being reintroduced back into Quebec schools for the first time since 2005 starting this fall, with full roll out expected by 2017-18! The teacher federation is worried that the government is out of touch with 2015. And the Order of Quebec Sexologists notes they have not been consulted @ Oh La la!

Meanwhile in BC, the Neo Libs continue to steamroll over public education as a tip o' the hat to their corporate big brothers @ Rabble.ca

And let's not forget P.E.I, where the education minister has cut 28 jobs in the midst of tense teacher contract negotiations, leading the federation to walk away from the table @ CBC

Who's dat! Why, it's the HCDSB + friends!

Alas! Police are called into a HCDSB board meeting after parents start to fight and spit. What were they so upset about? The director's unreported salary overpayment?!? $1 million in mystery tax receipts [see below]?!? Nope. They don't want their kids taught that homosexuals exist @ Sparks Fly!

HCDSB issues over $1 million in mystery tax receipts as a registered charity! Read "HCDSB New's" indie expose of the Catholic board's refusal to reveal, despite the Freedom of Info Act, how many tax receipts have been issued, to whom and for what reasons. It's also doing so on the public dime. It cost $5 to request the info, $10,000 to fight if the request is denied @ HCDSB

OECTA Sunshine Lists? Indie OECTA Watchdog blogger posts the OECTA/SE Secretariats 2012-14 and 2014-16 contracts, which have otherwise needed to be directly requested in person by members through the OLRB up until now @ Oecta Watchdog

Cheri = collar = ordained ..... get it now?!?

Dept. of Scary: United Minister/Provincial NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo was swarmed by angry sex ed protesters who thought she was wearing a religious collar to "mock them" at a June 7 QP rally. Chanting "Kathleen loser, loser, loser, Kathleen, loser, lesbian loser", they also gave speeches, and marched from QP to take their ahem, "parental concerns" ... to the streets @ Now/ Video Also @ Twitter

PARTY POLITICS

Queens Park adjourns for the summer holidays leaving a lot up in the air including the Hydro sell off and an impending province wide fall teacher strike. The PC's have a new party leader and some say Andrea Horwath has bounced back @ CBC

Newly elected PC Leader Patrick Brown will run in one of the 2 new ridings in his hometown of Barrie in 2018. He will seek another riding in the interim but apparently has no fixed plans or timeline as of yet. In the meantime, without a seat, he will not be allowed to join his caucus on the floor at QP nor speak in question period @ Brown

Strange bed fellow? In a surprise, seeming reversal of Ontario PC policy, new party leader Pat Brown announces he is opposed to the OLP's plans to privatize Ontario Hydro. He even claims he will work with the NDP on this @ Fire Sale?

Ye so called "Common Sense Revolution": It was 20 years ago, June 26th. Mike Harris reminisces. Toronto Sun writer drools @ Harr-ass

IN THE NEWS

52 year old David Furnish, Elton John's spouse, and Grand Marshall of this year's Gay Pride Toronto, reflects upon growing up gay in Toronto @ Furnish

Manufacturing Consent: a teacher explains how the popular TV shows "Daredevil" and "Agents of Shield" is molding the minds of youngsters with cartoonish references to good charter schools and big bad teacher unions @ Marvelous

Beware the Bilderbergs!?!

This year's annual top secret Neo Lib Bilderberg Group conference was held in Austria from June 11-14th. The agenda included articial intelligence [A.I], cyber security, chemical weapon threats, current economic issues, European strategy, globalization, Greece, Iran, Middle East, NATO, Russia, Terrorism, the UK, USA and US elections. Reps are invited from each country; usually both conservative and liberal to participate in the open forum discussions. Canada's 5 "Conservative" and "Liberal" "reps" this year were; Andrew Coyne [Editor National Post]. Heather Monroe-Blum [CPP Chair] David McKay [President/ CEO Royal Bank], Ed Clark [Former Prez/ CEO TD Bank], Heather Reisman [CEO Indigo]. No minutes or other info are ever made available fueling fears that this is one of the top elite neo lib decision making groups that effect policy around the world as a part of the corporate reform movement. News links @ Agenda @ Who's Who? and @ Canada's Top 5

The Federal Liberal Party slump in the polls is being blamed on party leader Justin Trudeau's support for Bill C-51; Canada's controversial anti terrorism act, which severely limits our constitutional rights under the pretext of a very flimsy terrorist threat. Justin has promised to explain how he will change the bill on the fall election trail, but leaves many of us thinking PET must be rolling in is his grave. Moreover, the Federal NDP are now topping the latest polls @ Trudeau

"Media Planet: Candid Moment With the Candidates" asks the 4 main federal party leaders about the role organized labour has in Canada's future. Only Mr. Harper refused to respond but one suspects his silence speaks louder than words @ Candid 

Justin Trudeau verses Thomas Mulcair? As his charisma fades, the heir apparent compares Lib and NDP policy in the most general of terms. All form, no substance? @ Son of Pet

Lining up the ducks: Federal NDP icon Olivia Chow is considering a political comeback with a run in the fall election in Spadina-Fort York as the party continues to gain momentum across Canada in the polls @ Olivia

Look's familiar: All is certainly not well state side either!

Back in the USA: 30,000 Washington State teachers from 65 local units in 8 districts have been staging one day strikes to protest class size, corporate "reforms" and teacher salary issues. Although many folk might think President Obama is a progressive kind of guy, on a lot of educational issues, he would be somewhere to the far right of Mike Harris if he were up here in Canada @ US Strike!

How Governor Jeb Bush dumbed down education in Florida! Now he wants to be president @ Dumb, Dumber ... 

Pssst! Enlargement at bottom of site!

Former Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton is planning to run federally in the hotly contested riding of Kenora this fall @ Howie

Grotesque Injustice? Discrimination? Abuse? On a widespread, organized scale? In Canada?!? It can't happen here? Phooey on that! Oh the self righteous indignation! This apparently is not a "penance" but simply a case of the powers that be wanting a "second chance". Hmmm. Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has finally nailed the problem of our residential schools head on and spares few of the details about the aborigine students' horrible treatment in the supposedly caring hands of government and church. It calls for education about "cultural genocide". No word if Harper's going to send in the CF-18's to blow us all up to set us free for a "second chance", but read this and weep anyway @ Oh Canada?!?

The report urges Pope Francis to make an apology on behalf of the Roman Catholic church, like the other denominations did. There is a precedent; with the Irish victims of abuse in 2010. Pope Francis is much touted as a man of the people. Will he arise to the occasion and help with the healing? More on the recommendations @ Pope Francis?

Francis: Are you SURE you've got nothing to say? It's a sin to lie! Harper: No. No It's ok!

Sorry!?! Er ... kinda sorta! Harper's failure to directly raise the issue of a residential schools apology with the pope creates deep disappointment @ Harper

Pope Francis "Praised Be" papal encyclical continues to raise neo lib eyebrows with its references to "the cry of the earth" and the "cry of the earth", plus his powerful critique of the relationship between poverty, environmentalism and throwaway culture @ Francis

Francis criticizes a world economic system that places profit before the common good @ CBC

KULTURE KULT INK

Pssssssst! Whazzup with The Rolling Bones?!? Yup, they've been pulled from here for another blog! The video was kinda krude for a ..... harrumph! ..... respectable News y Views feature like this! Y'bet! Meanwhile, enjoy the following til later ......

Summer is almost here, and summer is Beach Boy time, right? Hmmm. Having helped define the spirit of summer since the 1960's, it's hard not to love them, but let's face it, maybe they should've been renamed the "Beach Men" a long time ago? Or the "Beach Grandpas" or even the "Beach Seniors" by now? Ouch! Agism? Okay, but in their oooh sooo keen, peachy Beachy case, what the heck, with all that darned cheerfulness, they deserve a great "Shred" up! So. Here we go @ They Get Around [too much]!?

Eh? Summer?!? Yeah. It's coming from over that-a-way!

Bonus: For reading this far:

"Teens in the Wild!" -now it can be told @ Youtube!

Link Fixed!!! "Grammar Police" -to the rescue @ Mytube!



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