There's a really unequal structure in place at the moment. They get a good deal in one place and use that to lever a similar deal in other places. But Sandals is opposed to Queen's Park itself negotiating with teachers. She was reacting to a report suggesting Education Minister Janet Ecker is planning to freeze teachers' collective agreements, when most expire August 31 and bring in a province-wide bargaining formula. As reported in the Toronto Sun, February 11.
Teachers face freeze on contracts.
The provincial government is concluding the details of a new strategy that could see Queen's Park take direct control of contract negotiations with provincial teachers unions, raising the risk of another province wide teachers' strike. The move, which implicitly acknowledges the failure of some of the Conservatives' earlier education reforms, would force the unions and the government to negotiate directly over wages, classroom sizes and participation in extracurricular activities. If those negotiations fail, or if the unions resist the move to province wide bargaining, then a legal or illegal strike by all 111,000 teachers in Ontario could be the result. It's taking a situation that is already very volatile and making it much worse. There were no changes made to the original legislation, which did not pass because of the calling of the federal election.