Insured Benefits: A Crucial Part of Compensation (Collective Bargaining)

Since ETFO’s inception in 1998, strong collective bargaining has worked to equalize compensation and working conditions for teacher and occasional teacher members across the province. Such items as a4 salary maximums, preparation time, supervision time, instructional time, lunch breaks, and the voluntary nature of extracurricular activities have been standardized in all ETFO collective agreements. The 2008 bargaining goals for teachers and occasional teachers continue to focus on improvements for all of our members in many of these areas.

Disparity  in insured benefits
For a variety of  reasons, the exception to this standardization of pay and working conditions has been in  the  area of  insured benefits. The benefit plans in both our teacher and occasional teacher locals differ widely in the  share  of pre- miums that members pay and the actual benefit coverage provided, creating a differential in how members across the province are compensated.

The gap in compensation
The disparity occurs in two ways. The first has to do with  the  share of premiums paid by the employer and employee. In many teacher locals, 100 percent of  the premium for benefit plans is paid by the  employer; teachers pay nothing. However, in other teacher  locals, the employer pays less, sometimes as little as 79  percent of the cost of premiums. The teachers’ share at 21 percent amounts to approximately $1100 gross for a family benefit plan. Consequently, the real compensation for these teachers is substantially lower than that of their colleagues.

Similarly, in occasional teacher locals, the way premium costs are shared between employer and employees varies widely, with employers paying 75 percent in some locals and nothing at all in others. This results in an approximate $3000 difference in the cost of a family plan. The fact that some employers pay nothing makes these ben- efits prohibitively expensive for our members.

The second factor that leads to a gap in compensation for members is the level of  benefits provided by the plans. Again, there is a substantial  difference between locals  both  in  services provided and in the cost of  individual benefits. Anything not covered by a benefit plan becomes a user fee, dollars that come directly out  of  a member’s pocket. Examples include benefit plans that  do  not  include  travel  insurance or  orthodontic or  restorative dental coverage, so that members must assume the full cost or purchase their own coverage.

There are numerous other instances of user fees throughout the teacher and occasional teacher benefit plans, and the effect on our members is the same: they cost our members money. Until these financial issues regarding benefits have been addressed, real compensation for our members across the province will not have been equalized.

Collective bargaining  history
The history of the collective bargaining as it relates to benefits is instructive. With some exceptions, the benefit plans in existence in 2008 were largely negotiated in the 1980s. Attacks on benefit plans began in 1993 with the NDP’s Expenditure Control Plan, followed by the Social Contract, followed by the cuts made by the Conservatives under Mike Harris, and the amalgamation of the school boards in 1998.
These attacks on funding all made the assumption that benefit plans were not a legitimate part of teacher compensation and, at any rate, were too costly and had to be cut.

The role of school boards
During  this  period,  some  school  boards  recognized  that benefit plans were legitimate components of collective agreements and did not attempt to decimate them. Other boards however, began a ceaseless attack on benefits that in some cases continues today. The blueprint for these attacks was a 1992 memo from the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) that gave boards a laundry list of ways in which to shrink benefit plans. During the 1990s, many locals were unable to resist the assault on their benefit plans during collective bargaining. This resulted in the employer “cherry-picking” plans; in other words, employees paid more for premiums and received fewer benefits. In many locals this situation still exists.

Negotiations  in 2008
In the last round of bargaining, ETFO put a stop to the stripping of benefits and bargained improvements in all teacher and many occasional teacher collective agreements. The same steadfast approach will be the basis of negotiations this year. Bargaining will address the compensation gap caused by the differences in benefit plans. It will not be easy. The OPSBA is continuing to discuss “cost containment,” which means benefit strips. The Liberal government has not, as yet, addressed the underfunding of benefits that has existed since the Harris years. This is a major obstacle, but with strong member commitment and perseverance, ETFO will realize success. It is crucial that ETFO members realize that benefit plans are an  integral part of  their compensation package and a major  component  of  improving  their  and  their  families’ financial futures.