The Lucknow Sentinel, 1980-11-12, Page 7office.Of the Ontario Secondary School
Teaehers' Federation has claimed
abOut Working conditions that,. "Even
though all other teacher groups have
these things in their agreements, and
they are very, :common, 'the Bruce
ply-says-they cannot
put these things in." (Statettent by
Bob' Buckthorp on C.K.N,X. FM 102,
Open Line, October: 3.)
What are the facts? Let us examine
Gust four of the numerous demands
made by :the 0.S,S.TF. take-over
team, deMands that are still outstand-
ing; (1) pupil-teacher ratio; (2) teach
Only-sii,otreight periods per day;: (3)
teach :ro more than a ' specific
maximum number of ' students each
Week; (4) support staff (specific
number of librarians: and guidance
personnel).
Looking at the province as a whole,
we : find that only eleven of the
seventy-six boards of education have
all four of these items in their
collective agreements. •Obviously they
are not common to Ontario school
boards„.:
Despite what is happening across
'the entire province, it is much: more
important that we examine what is,
happening, in our region. The geog
raphical area: that is ' considered to
have -an influence on teacher-board
bargaining in truce County includes
Dtiluefe°rliln 11:Gngrey,, Huron,eotintyarMilSid: 41ersaenXt: ff
Oxford, Perth, Sinacee, Waterine and
Wellington ,. .
flow .common ire these four de-
mands • to the boards in our.regiOn?
Not even one board in this rpgicaulagLp
these four items in its collective
agreemeht. In fact of :the the ten other
boards in the region, only four have-
"pupil-tedetir ratio" and it should. be
emphasized. that the Bruce Board has
already agreed to put "Pupil-teacher.
ratio" in the agreement, A further'
check reveals that only two: of the ten
boards in the-lregien.have any, ofthe
other three demands in their eollective
agreements: Obviously these* items
are not CoMmon • to colleetive agree-.
ments in this:region.
It is interesting 'to note that
Margaret Wilson, president of the
Ontario .Secondary School Teachers'
Federation, wrote an article on nego
tiations which was published on June
• 1, 1980, in the Ontario Public School
Men. Teachers'.Federation News. In
the article she commented on negotia-
tions- across the province. Stating,
:''Progress in negotiating working
conditOns has been ,unsatisfactory; In
, 1978,-79, 68.3% -:of our cpllective
agreements had no claSs size provision
• and 49.2% had no P.T.R. provision."
This is net what the O.S,S.T,F,
take-ov er team is telling the public in
Bruce County,
• The statement by teacher spokes-
man, Bob:Buekthorp of Toronto, that :
teachers lowered their demand on
UPA-tuaehm,ratie by 7 b teachers ,at
the October 23rd negotiating session
is misleading, Since the strike- began
the teachers have been demanding a
pupil-teacher ratio of 16.2 to 1 and
that demand was , not changed, at the
October 23'rd meeting. The teachers
did suggest that:for the 1980-81 school
year the pupil-teacher ratio should be
based on_theLnumber of students__
actually enrolled on Septentber 30th.
The actual enrolment for September
30th fell , short of the estimated
enrolment by 100 students. (Many
registered out of the county because of
;the threat of a stiike.) The teachers
can hardly Claim a change in 'position
by virtue of not requiring the Board tol
hire additional , teachers for students
not enrolled in Brnee County. Of
course there is no saving to`the Board
by this 'suggestion because the Board
has aiready- ' lost ,-approxima.tely
$200,000 in proVincial grants through
the loss of 100 students.
R. Gatis, Chairman,
The Bruce County Board Of Education.
*faun' Page
To the Editor:
I regret is has become necessary to
clarify certain pointS regarding work-
ing conditions for • Bruce County
"seeondary school teachers,
rEACHER WORKLOAD
It is 'extremely 'difficult to Measure
the workload of a classroom teacher
because of the number of factors •
involved, However, ,the Ontario See
ondary • School Teachers' Federation
has devised a method which Measures
the average workload of a teacher for,
every board in the .• prevince. The,
results of the .1970-80 0,S,S.T.F.
survey shows that there were 40
'boards with teacher workloads greatey
than Bruce County; one beard (Grey
Cpurity) with teacher worklpad equal
to Rruce- County; and .thirty-three ,.;
boards with teacher workload lesS
than Bruce .County. Based on these
facts, why is the provincial take-over
team demanding that the Board staff,
with 13.8 more teachers than the
present pppil-teacher ratio requires?
Perhaps thii is the reason why the
provincial take-over team is refusing
to allow. an arbitrationboard to rule on
the merits of its workload deMands'..,.
INCLUSION . OF WORKING
CONDITIONS IN AGREEMENT
WITH OTHER BOARDS
Bob Buckthorp from the Toronto'
-Ontario Treasurer Frank Miller plats to introduce ,a
mini-budget on November 13 providing short-term
stimulation of the,provincialecenemy because ,of what he
called 'the "darnpening effect” of the federal budget of
`October 28. '
Mr —Miller-said-he :expects --the -provincial -economy--
to pick up by 'next June, but in the meantime some
short-term stimulation of consumer demand to support
job creation may have_fo be eonsideredn
He wouldn't give details • of the mini-:budget,. but he
said he and government economists have been consid-
ering a number of options.
One possibility is that Ontario will rebate the seven per
cent, provincial sales tax on the purchases of new cars and
Manufactured goods,' such as refrigerators, stoves,
automatic washers and driers,
Earlier this year, Mr. Miller Introduced a temporary
program of sales tax rebates on new cars, and he has said
he considered the rebate successful in stimulating sales.
Industrial Wastes
The Ontario' Government has drafted legislation that
would override bylaws passed by some municipalities to'
ban dumping of industrial wastes within their bound-
aties. An official of the. Envirentnent Ministry said this.
legislation is viewed as a. contingency for an emergency
situation.
He said the legislation would be considered only if, for
example, the Canadian-U.S. border was closed to the
export of wastes to the United States, All landfill sites and
treatment plants were closed by municipal bylaws, and
the province faced massive illegal dumping of wastes.
One-of-the-issues-discussed-by-senior-ministry-officials iss ties-discussed-by-se nior-mi ni stryofficial s -
and representatives of corporations which generate much
of the waste in Ontario was the need for the private
sector t y-in o-paere:,-a ttention lte-tho i quid-indu.s trial-waste-
problem- Companies must realize also the extent to,
which the public is-concerned about health• and safety,
said the official.
Acid Rain
Three new studies to, determine the economic and
social .costs of acid rain have been launched by the
Ontario Ministry of the Environment, •Environment
-Minister Harry Parrott said that a clear picture is needed
of what acid rain is costing Ontarians.
A $150,000 study will be conducted to determine the
economic impact of , acid rain on the tourism industry.
Another $104;000 will be used to find out the value
people place on recreational and environmental resour-
ces affected by acid rain, The third study, will foeus on the
actual and potential effects on commercial fishing,
forestry " and agriculture.
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