Ontario teachers' union’s $65-million fund raises issues about secret payout

Internal financial statements of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
for last year show the union maintains a substantial reserve fund called the
Member Protection Account.

Ontario’s high school teachers’ union was sitting on more than $65-million in financial reserves while negotiating a secret $1-million payment from the Liberal government to cover bargaining costs, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The union spent $1.8-million from that reserve fund on political activities and allocated hundreds of thousands more for bargaining expenses in the year before it negotiated the government payout.

Internal financial statements of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation for last year, obtained by The Globe, show the union maintains a substantial reserve fund called the Member Protection Account. The reserve’s total balance at the end of the 2014 fiscal year – when the union began negotiating a new collective agreement with the province – was $65,674,933, up more than $5-million from the year before. The fund has been used to pay for such things as bargaining costs, political action and grievances.

The revelations raise questions about the rationale for the $1-million government payment to OSSTF. Both the government and union have insisted it was necessary for taxpayers to compensate the union for the cost of collective bargaining because the province’s new negotiating system made talks lengthier and more complex than before.  (more...)

Ontario teachers' union’s $65-million fund raises issues about secret payout

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