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The Huron Expositor • May 6, 2009 Page 7
News
Ratification vote May 1 approves four-year agreement
From Page 1
At a regular meeting Tuesday, April
28, Pratley and fellow .trustees ap-
proved a four-year collective agree-
ment with the . local chapter of the
union. Coupled with "a teacher rati-
fication vote May 1, it brought to a
close a protracted, occasionally high-
profile series of negotiations.
The pre-existing deal expired Aug.
31, 2008. At one point last year, the
ruling McGuinty government im-
posed a deadline on ETFO and school
boards, informing_ them that, if the
deadline wasn't met, the province
would provide only enough funding
for two-year deals instead of the ex-
pected four-year pacts. That dead-
line passed and the province said it
would stick to its word.
Eventually, however, the Education'
Ministry renewed its four-year com-
miti ent and imposed a new deadline
for the end of April. The. Avon Mait-
land deal, which came in conjunction
with a separate deal for elementary
supply teachers, was achieved . just
prior to that new deadline.
"This deal benefits my members as
well as the local community," said
Kim Finlayson,, president. of ETFO's
Avon Maitland occasional teacher lo-
cal, in a news release. "My members
are receiving .improved working con-
ditions and funding for professional
development. Avon Maitland par-
ents can be confident that high qual-
ity student learning will continue on
an uninterrupted basis because of
the work of qualified professionals
who feel they are respected by their
employer."
That feeling of respect, however,
wasn't evident in a full-page. adver-
tisement appearing a week earlier in
area community newspapers.
A campaign on local radio stations
accompanied the newspaper ads.
The campaign accused the board of
failing to use provincial funding for
its intended purpose.
"The Avon Maitland District School
Board has been given money by the
province to reduce class sizes but the
trustees of the board have refused
to spend it on reducing class sizes
in Grade 4 to Grade 8, states the
newspaper ad.
Merlin Leis, president of ETFO's
main Avon Maitland local, confirmed
thecampaign was a local initiative
within the union.
"The centralized bargaining of is-
sues has been beneficial in many
ways, because it allows the province
to set priorities for spending. And
they're the purse -holders, so that
has been- helpful," Leis said. "How-
ever, locally, some needs tend to be
sacrificed. And we found that with
the class size issue."
Research• revealed average Grade
4-8 class sizes in the board are 26.9
students per teacher, compared with
a provincial average of 24.5. The new
collective agreement calls for a re-
duction in the board's average class
size by 0.1 students per year, but
Leis said that's inadequate.
He added that the local union "held
off as long as we could" on sending
out the ad, in hopes that further con-
cessions could be achieved from the
board. But, a couple of weeks before
the final deadline, it became appar-
ent that would not happen.
"We wanted to inform the com-
munity, we wanted to inform the
parents, we wanted to inform the
ratepayers that the money they're
providing through their taxes is not
being spent as it's meant to be spent,"
he said.
Pratley disputed both the class size
figures used by the union and the in-
terpretation of the intended use for
the particular envelope of Education
Ministry money.
"Their numbers are inaccurate,"
said the Stratford trustee, referring
to the Grade 4-8 class size concern.
"I think one needs to factually look
at what's in the ad before you make
a judgment on what they're saying."
He added that the money referred
to by ETFO wasn't specifically tar-
geted at reducing class sizes. Rather,
boards were required to invest it in
"student achievement."
"And we use it for student achieve-
ment. What (ETFO) is not account-
ing for is the fact that we support
our Grade 4 to 8 teachers with the
resources they need to encourage
student achievement, such as liter-
acy and numeracy support, special
education support and support for
students with special needs."
Responding to Pratley's interpre-
tation, Leis said, "quite frankly, the
arguments made by the board leave
something to be desired."
Needless to say, with the collective
agreement finally signed almost a
year after the previous deal expired,
there's still plenty to discuss around
the negotiating table -- as the two
sides begin to think about the end of
this new deal on Aug. 31, 2012.
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