Ontario must hold the line on teachers' salaries

Over the past decade, government spending on public education in Ontario has grown at an unsustainable rate, driven largely by significant growth in employee compensation costs. To help fight the province’s daunting budget deficit, the provincial government must hold the line on teacher compensation.

In its recent contract negotiations with the various teacher unions, the government required “net-zero” terms. In other words, money for any raises would have to be found within existing funding envelopes.

This week, it was revealed that the government had made a total of $2.5 million in payments to three different unions to cover their expenses for the collective bargaining process under the new framework. Some have cited this development to criticize the government’s negotiation framework, which includes the net-zero provision. NDP leader Andrea Horwath, for example, stated that the new framework with a net-zero rule and centralized negotiation on salary issues “a failure.” OECTA union president Ann Hawkins defended the payouts, saying they are necessary due to the new framework that the unions claim is more complex.

The payments to unions to cover negotiating costs are unseemly – in principle, taxpayers should not be made to pay for both sides of the collective bargaining process.  (more...)

Ontario must hold the line on teachers' salaries

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