Bill 115 - Putting Students First?

Hello my friends,

Happy New Year!  Thanks for tuning in!

I've been thinking about this subject for a while now.  As a somewhat disinterested bystander I wasn't following the story too terribly closely at first, assuming that the interested parties would figure themselves out sooner or later.  Well, it's later; much later and they still haven't figured themselves out.  Before I get too far into this please understand, I'm not taking sides.  The point of this post is just to raise a few points and perhaps clarify a few things for some people who may not know the whole story.

For those of you who do not live in Ontario, Bill 115, Putting Students First Act - 2012 was implemented by the current Liberal government as an amendment to the provincial Education Act seemingly because the current (at the time) teacher and support staff agreements were about to expire (on August 31, 2012) and only two unions had reached agreements and signed memoranda of understanding with the government.  Theoretically, this bill was implemented so as to allow for two years free of labour disputes.  While I'll go through the nuts and bolts of the bill in detail below, this is the meat of what the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) had agreed to (and the one upon which the government has based Bill 115):

• Zero per cent salary increases in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
• All teachers will take a 1.5 per cent pay cut in the form of three unpaid professional development days so that younger teachers will continue to move through the grid according to their experience and additional qualifications.
• Agreement to restructure the grid with a view to long-term, sustainable savings.
• Elimination of the current retirement gratuity for payment of unused sick days that was responsible for a $1.7 billion liability for school boards.
• A restructured short-term sick leave plan that would include up to 10 sick days. This sick leave plan would benefit younger teachers by providing income protection for serious illness and improved maternity leave provisions.

 Those of us who aren't government employees read this and think to ourselves "So?  What's the big deal?  Lots of companies have or have had wage freezes.  At least they have jobs."  The vast majority of people who work outside of government have no such thing as banked sick days or even job security anymore, so they have a hard time feeling any empathy towards people who, in their opinion, only work 10 months of the year (with 2 weeks off at Christmas plus March Break) and 7 hours of each day.

I know teachers.  I'm related to teachers.  I like teachers.  And that myth isn't exactly true; but it isn't entirely false either.  They do get most of the summer off.  And they get two weeks off every Christmas plus they get March break off.  But they also work all day, every day.  Even when they're not actually teaching your kids.  They're there before your kids are and they're there after they leave.  They take their work home with them.  They organize the concerts and the sports teams and the school plays.  Sure, that's part of what teachers are expected to do, but they don't do it during class time.  My point here is that I think the public has maybe forgotten that we expect an awful lot from teachers.  I would not trade places with a teacher for the world.  I'm not sure I could manage a whole class of children and I wouldn't want the responsibility these days when parents seem to expect everything and a bag of chips from teachers.

Moving on to Bill 115, lots of the news, tweets, messages etc. seem to focus on this 'work to rule' (my words) protest being about labour rights rather than the actual changes in the agreements.  So, I looked it up.  and since most people probably don't want to read the whole bill (or any of it)  I'll give you the highlights (there is mention that these powers are granted on an exceptional and temporary basis):

• Section 4(1) refers to the types of agreements which the collective bargaining must resemble:  i.e. the one agreed to by the OECTA and the terms must not be inconsistent with that agreement.
• Section 9 is actually called Minister’s advice to Lieutenant Governor in Council.  
• Subsection (1) specifies how the Education Minister can, and should, give orders to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) regarding signing agreements.  Essentially, the Minister must approve of whatever agreement the boards and teachers come up with, and those agreements must resemble the agreement reached with the OECTA.
• Subsection (2) is a little more complex, but it specifies that if the Minister advises the Lieutenant Governor that an agreement does not meet the above-mentioned criteria, then the LG may order just about anything, "(vi)  do anything else that the Lieutenant Governor in Council determines is necessary in the circumstances".  It then goes on to detail what things may need to be done if the Minister advises the LG that a board and a bargaining agent are not going to be able to come to an agreement before the December 31, 2012 deadline:  impose a collective agreement as per above, prohibit strikes, prohibit lockouts and everything associated with those things.  
• The rest of the subsections are mostly legal stuff, nothing earth-shattering.

• Section (10) makes it okay for the LG to impose a collective agreement.  Period.

Whew, that section 9 was killer huh?  So now we're getting to the really good stuff and I won't bore you with lists anymore.  In section (11) the bill states that the Minister can make a complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board alleging a contravention of this Act.  Section (12) follows by declaring that the Minister must be notified of any proceedings relating to this Act including request for judicial review.  Then in section (13) it states that the Labour Relations Act, 1995 applies, except as modified by this Act.  Which sets us up nicely for section (14) wherein we learn the following:

   14.  (1)  The Ontario Labour Relations Board shall not inquire into or make a decision on whether a provision of this Act, a regulation or an order made under subsection 9 (2) is constitutionally valid or is in conflict with the Human Rights Code.

   (2)  An arbitrator or arbitration board shall not inquire into or make a decision on whether a provision of this Act, a regulation or an order made under subsection 9 (2) is constitutionally valid or is in conflict with the Human Rights Code.

Yikes!!!  They can't even complain if their human rights are violated!!!  That would be breaking the law.  Seriously. 

The bill goes on to say that there will be no review by court.  Period.  No orders made or advice given under this Act will be reviewed or arbitrated.  There will be no causes of action resulting from this Act.  There will be no remedy.  There's more after that, but it's legal stuff; this is the meat and potatoes.

So, if someone was taking my rights away, I might be a little miffed too.  Wouldn't you?

Having said all of that, I'd like to go in a different direction now.  When I was first researching this bill, the idea that kept popping into my mind was that while this bill is a Draconian measure, would it have been necessary if the threat of labour disruption wasn't real?  Yes, this bill goes too far in my opinion,  but I think the threat was real.  And why was the threat there in the first place?  Because the government was trying to control spending by implementing the measures listed at the top of this post; and, as I mentioned above, I don't know very many people (outside of the government) who would have a hard time accepting those provisions as long as they still had jobs.  So as much as the teachers want to take the high road and claim that this isn't about money or banking sick days, that's what started it.

That and the fact that they are unionized professionals.  Think about that for a minute.  Roll it around in your mouth.  Professionals.  Because teachers are professionals.  They have to get a second university degree to teach at any level, they have specialties, they have to maintain and continue their education and keep current.  Teachers are professionals.  But they're also in unions.  What's up with that?  Are there any other professionals you can think of who are unionized?  I can't think of any.  The other professionals that come to mind have organizations which are responsible for maintaining their membership, accreditation, discipline when necessary, education etc., but they aren't unions.  The Law Societies, The Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, the Associations of Chartered Accountants, to name but a few. 

At the risk of offending teachers (which is not at all my intent), the rest of the western world is in, at the very least, a recession.  Much of southern Ontario over the past five years has had to deal with the fallout of the collapse of the auto industry and everything that rippled from that and the American banking collapse.  Teachers have been laid off and still there is a threat of strikes or lockouts.  No one wants to lose something that they already have.  That's understandable.  But banking sick days?  Forever?  There are teachers who can't get jobs and the ones who have jobs want to strike because they can't save up their sick days.  Many people don't even get paid when they're sick.  Other professionals get paid for the work they actually do (doctors get paid per client visit, lawyers bill by the hour that they are actually working on your stuff etc.).  They don't get paid a salary and they certainly don't get paid when they don't do anything.

 As I mentioned above, I have the highest regard for teachers, and I am always suspicious of the government.  This legislation is outrageous and while the teachers themselves can't do anything about it, perhaps the taxpayers should:  because if the government can do this to one group of people, then they can of course do it to another group (and you're fooling yourself if you think not).  I have no idea how to go about that at this particular time, so I'll just leave that in your laps for now.

I think that I have rambled enough for today and I will remove myself from my soapbox after saying one more thing:  I think that both sides are wrong and neither is putting students first.  The Minister and the teachers (or at least the organizers of the work stoppages) are antagonizing each other and holding the students hostage. 

Drive safe peeps,

GSAs Part Deux

Hello my peeps!

In the interest of closure, I thought I should write a little post letting everyone know that the Ontario Catholic school trustees have changed their collective mind - a little - and decided to allow clubs in Catholic schools (not gay-straight alliances) which are focused on helping students who are bullied because they are gay. Here is the Toronto Star's article on the story.

Yay! It may seem like a small victory, but it's still nice to celebrate.

Peace out peeps, and don't forget to vote on Monday!

Catholic Schools Ban GSAs? That's a Shocker!

Greetings my Friends,

I hope all is well with you on this sunny (in the GTA anyway) Sunday.

Today's little story came to me through an email from a friend of mine who is, understandably, alarmed at this news. His email didn't contain the actual story but I have great faith in him. Most of you don't know him so I'm including a link the The Globe's story.

If you don't want to jump to the Globe, I'll sum up: St Joseph's Catholic Secondary in Mississauga has decided not to allow students to form a Gay-Straight Alliance. This is not terribly surprising to me. It is a Catholic school.

PLEASE DO NOT THINK THAT I AM CONDONING OR AGREEING WITH THE DECISION. I am simply not surprised. I was raised as a Catholic and anyone who follows the goings-on in the Vatican should know that the Papacy officially frowns on homosexual behaviour. (I'm not even going to start on priests.) The Catholic Church frowns on any type of sexual behaviour outside of marriage too (marriage being defined as the union between a man and a woman), and even within a marriage it really should only be for the sake of procreation. Seriously.

So, having said that, let's look at what institution is making this decision. An aging, fearful, corrupt one. I'm not suggesting that each and every Catholic is old, scared and corrupt/evil. I'm talking high-level.

I am not and have never been a Church-basher. The Catholic Church has been responsible for a lot of good in the course of modern history. They educated and nursed the poor (in droves); they provided light where there was only dark for many. They helped untold numbers of people. They gave me a good education and I never once was abused (neither were my brothers). However, they have also been responsible for their share of bad. I'm sure I don't need to go into it, but I think the biggest mistake the Church is making is not evolving.

Things which don't change die. The Church refuses to accept that the world and the people in it are not the same as we were 2,000 years ago. We are not afraid of the dark anymore. A growing number of us do not even believe in their God and thus we cannot be cowed into obediance with threats of everlasting hell.

There have been gay people as long as there have been people: that hasn't changed. What has changed is society's acceptance of difference. I'm not gay, but my friend who sent me the email offers this:

Growing up gay in suburban Toronto during the nineties was not easy. Feeling different from a young age, and hitting puberty with an attraction to the same-sex, I realized very quickly my environment was not friendly towards such feelings.

My attempts to suppress my attraction, and fit in, led to a major depression in my early teens, with self-destructive behaviours that were all-consuming.

The only support groups for gay teens were in downtown Toronto at the time, and accessing these supports was difficult for a north of Steeles Avenue teenager on a school-night. It involved making up stories about where I disappeared to every Tuesday night, and feeling there was no space for gay teenagers in the suburbs.

I was lucky enough to meet other gay, lesbian and bisexual students in my Thornhill public high school, and together we started York Region’s first LGBTQ support group in Richmond Hill , open to all youth living in York Region. With the support of the York Region Public Health Department, we secured a space, and were happy to see large numbers of youth attend these meetings, finding a place to grow their self-esteem and realize they were not alone. This group became very meaningful for me, and for many other youth who were struggling with isolation.

Perhaps I'm a little too jaded sometimes, but part of me thinks, is anyone really surprised by this school's decision? It's the second recently. The Halton District Catholic School Board had it's similar decision overturned (and I assume the same will happen here). Perhaps we shouldn't be sending our kids to Catholic schools if we don't want them to be excluded.

Perhaps most important to remember: the Catholic schools in Ontario are no longer separate. They are entirely funded by public money now. As far as I'm concerned, that's all that matters. These are not Catholic schools any more, these are public schools that teach the Catholic religion. Of course, either way, individuals should not have to feel invisible or excluded. Either way, all kids should feel that they have a voice and a safe place at school.

That's all I've got for now peeps!

Peace out,

Back to School

Ahh... the hot humid days of summer have yielded to the crisp cool days of autumn, so I have, in my infinite wisdom, decided to go back to school! Just part time, one course, one evening a week and it started tonight! It was very exciting! I was very early (I had to go to the bookstore to pick up my text and wasn't sure whether or not there would be line ups), so I had lots of time to ponder.

The first thing I noticed was how young everyone was!!! Wait, maybe they're not really that much younger, maybe I'm just that much older... no, that can't be it. They really are younger now that grade 13 has been abolished here in Ontario. That explains it. Right? So, aside from the fact that I probably was the oldest person in the room (including the instructor) the single biggest change I think would have to be the use of the internet. Our text is not a text at all, it is a collection of readings which the instructor could not find online so had to have printed and bound. The rest of the course readings are all online and in order for us to access them, we must have valid student IDs and UofT email addresses. (I'm still working on both of those; the UofT in its infinite wisdom is not making either easy for me since I work essentially 9-5.) When I was last registered as a student at the UofT, we did not need to access readings online; they were always available hardcopy. Of course, back then, I was a full-time student and had a valid ID card and email address, plus the time to sort out the details if need be.

So, despite the technological differences (and my age), has being an undergrad changed all that much? It's been 11 years since I first went back to school. Was tonight's class any different from what I remember? Not really. There was still roughly the same distribution of people showing up before class, right on time and late. Some even had the temerity to show up an hour late (why bother in a first class? They never last the whole three hours) and were surprised that there were no syllabi left for them. This has not changed. Their look has changed slightly, although surprisingly little in the past decade, and there were more people with laptops, but there were the usual suspects: the electricity stealers (people who plugged their laptops in to the outlets at the front of the room), the keeners, the late-comers, those who like to talk just to hear themselves speak, those who think that everyone wants to hear them, and those who clearly would rather be elsewhere. Some people were texting (this is new), but most seemed to be able to pay relatively quiet attention for an hour and a half.

I would like to point out that I noticed, with some displeasure, that more than one person did not smell clean. I was in a large lecture hall and the class size was 300, so there were probably about 300 people there (there didn't seem to be many empty seats). The smells were not just different cooking or spice smells, nor were they unpleasant perfume smells. There was definitely body odour. And more than one body had odour. This is relatively new to me. I have, in the past, had to sit near someone who did not smell nice, but I don't think I've ever had more than one person near me with body odour. Did someone forget to teach these kids to bathe? Today was not a hot day, these people were not wearing athletic clothing nor did they look particularly sporty, so what the heck? Are they just flexing their newfound freedom from their parents and exercising their rights to not wash, or are they trying to conserve water or something? Whatever the reason, I'm not terribly supportive of it and am only thankful that I have developed allergies, so that the aromas were not as pungent as they could have been.

All in all, despite the generally accepted theory that the youth of today is going to hell in a handbasket, I don't think that my experience today in class is a good indicator of that. Sure, the ones who had their iPods on before class were listening to them at such a loud volume that I could hear the music from more than five feet away, but that, in itself, doesn't make them bad people, it makes them short-sighted (or rather, it will make them deaf in the near future). And of course, there were people who either didn't pay attention and answered questions incorrectly or asked the same question right after someone else asked it, but there is always someone who does this, and there probably always will be. I find it somewhat reassuring that school, despite the surface changes, remains essentially the same.

I will endeavour to keep you posted on my progress or on anything exciting which may happen there! Wish me luck.

Peace out,