Enforcement: Up and Running (Collective Bargaining)
Enforcement follows bargaining as summer follows spring. Bargaining years are filled with mass meetings, frequent updates on the status of negotiations, and dramatic developments – all very much a part of your reality last year. The current school year is the first full year in the life of the 64 teacher and occasional teacher collective agreements concluded last spring. For only the second time in the history of public elementary collective bargaining, our agreements run for four years. What happens in 2009–10 will determine how members’ rights will be implemented for the next three years. The patterns that are established early on with respect to enforcing these agreements are critically important. While it may be your union office that files grievances, enforcement actually begins with you – the member in the classroom. Ensuring that your collective agreement is upheld starts with understanding its contents.
By the time you read this, most of you will have received copies of your new 2008–12 collective agreement. It contains the information you need about your salaries. Teachers' salaries will increase by 2 percent this school year, 3 percent in 2010–11, and a further 3 percent in 2011–12. For occasional teachers, there is more variation, but the majority will receive increases of around 5.5 percent this year, followed by 3 percent in each of the two following years. Increases for educational and professional support personnel members are 3 percent per year for each of the three years.
Many agreements also contain details about your benefits plan, such as how much you can expect to be reimbursed for a pair of eyeglasses. In the last round of negotiations, additional fund- ing was rolled into benefit plans, though there are differences from local to local in how this funding will be applied. As a rule, whenever new agreements come into force, there are few disputes around compensation issues, and most that do arise are settled fairly quickly. But, in addition to increases in compensation, there have been significant changes in the provisions of teacher collective agreements that deal with working conditions. Because teacher and occasional teacher collective agreements are somewhat interdependent, a number of these provisions will have an impact on occasional teachers, both those working in daily assignments and those in long-term positions.
Among other items, the new teacher agreements contain
- an increase in preparation time this year to 210 minutes, rising to 240 in three years
- scheduling of preparation time over five- day cycles
- a “hard cap” of 80 minutes’ supervision time per week
- a limit on the number and duration of staff meetings
- a small decrease in the board’s average grade 4 to 8 class size
- the designation of one professional activity day for assessment and the completion of report cards.
These are key elements of working conditions for teachers. Implementing them properly and in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the new agreements requires attention to detail by school administrators. The early indications are that while in some boards this process is working well, in others it is not.
- The new agreements say that teachers are expected to attend staff meetings. It is a good idea to attend them; doing so helps to keep you up to date with what is going on in your school. However, you are not required to attend, and are free to use your professional judgment in the matter.
- With regard to preparation time, please note that all teacher collective agreements state that this time is to be used for professional purposes, as determined by the teacher. Your principal does not control the types of professional activities you choose to use your preparation time for – you do. You cannot be compelled by your principal to use your preparation time to attend a professional learning community, for example.
Should your employer violate the collective agreement with respect to this or any other matter, assistance is close at hand. Sometimes it is in the next classroom, in the person of your workplace steward, who can advise you and direct you to the appropriate contact in the local office. You can also simply phone or email your local president or other appropriate local executive member directly. Each local has its own method for handling calls,which may result in either an informal or a formal process to remedy violations. A great many workplace disputes are resolved through discussions between a union and a board representative. If this does not solve the problem, or if the issue does not lend itself to this method, a formal grievance may be initiated. The grievance process is an orderly, time-tested method for resolving disputes between the two parties to any collective agreement. In fact, having a method for the final, binding resolution of disputes is a legal requirement under the Labour Relations Act. The grievance process is the most high-profile enforcement mechanism of the many tools at the union’s disposal.
Everything that takes place in any unionized environment, including schools, needs to be examined through the lens of the collective agreement to ensure that no negotiated rights are being breached. Each year, your local executive members attend dozens of meetings with the employer on issues such as harassment, health and safety, accommodating members with disabilities, staffing, school reorganization, professional development, information technology, and the implementation of (endless) new initiatives from the Ministry’s Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat. Insofar as all of these issues touch on members’ rights and working conditions, all must be viewed in the context of the provisions of the collective agreement. In many cases, potential problems can be ironed out during the discussion phase before, for example, they become part of board policy.
Rights that are not enforced are mere window-dressing. You can help your union to enforce your rights by reading your new collective agreement.
