The Citizen, 2002-11-20, Page 12Talking destruction
OPP Sr. Const. Don Shropshall visited East Wawanosh
Public School last week to talk to students about vandalism
and the cost to the community. (Janice Becker photo)
PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2002.
School bd. approves no pay hikes for 2002-03
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Aiming to minimize the number
of programming cuts. the Avon
Maitland District School Board
responded to ever-tightening
provincial funding pursestrings by
approving no pay increases in its
2002-03 budget.
The government, meanwhile,
compounded the budgetary
challenges for school boards by
demanding that boards sign long-
term labour contracts, while
continuing to provide only year-by-
year funding commitments.
It's worth noting, therefore, that
the Avon Maitland District School
Board has succeeded, under these
circumstances. in signing long-term
contracts with two of its employee
groups in the past couple of months,
each with modest pay increases.
Most recently, the board ratified
an agreement on Tuesday, Nov. 14
with the Occasional Teachers
section of the Elementary Teachers
Federation of Ontario (ETFO). The
agreement runs through Aug. 31,
2004.
According to Education
Superintendent Geoff Williams, the
contract is achievable because the
amount spent by the board on
occasional (substitute) teachers
varies depending on the how often
they're needed. He says the board
hopes to minimize those necessities.
"We budget a certain amount for
the occasional teachers for the year,
and hopefully we'll be .able stay
within that range," Williams
explained,
Earlier in the fall, the board signed
a three-year contract with the
Canadian Auto Workers union,
representing board-employed
custodians and support workers.
According to Business
Superintendent Janet Baird-Jackson,
a pay raise within that contract was
made possible by "spreading people
around and, at the same time,
providing more equipment so they
can be more efficient."
Essentially, she said, the CAW
members "paid for their own (pay)
increase" by accepting the board's
plan to cut the total number of
custodial and support staff. Staff is
to be cut through attrition, Baird-
Jackson explained, and by
reorganizing such things as work
schedules.
She also said a private contract for
custodial work at South Perth
elementary school at Rannoch will
be eliminated, with the staff
reorganization bringing CAW
members into the site. Another
formerly-active private contract, at
Seaforth Public School, was
eliminated by relocating the CAW
staff from the former Seaforth
District High School.
Contracts have yet to be signed, of
course, with the board's two main
teaching unions: full-time teachers
with the ETFO and high school
teachers with the Ontario Secondary
School Teachers Federation
(OSSTF). Both contracts expired at
the end of August.
Indeed, full-time members of the
ETFO in the neighbouring Thames
Valley District School Board
(London. along with Middlesex,
Oxford and Elgin Counties), as well
as in other public and Catholic
boards across the province, are
currently staging work-to-rule
campaigns.
Williams said there appears to be
little threat of similar protests in
Huron and Perth Counties, but he
admitted the full-time . contracts
represent "a big challenge."
Baird-Jackson agreed, saying the
board's best hope is for changes to
the provincial government's funding
formula. While the Occasional
Teachers and CAW contracts could
be described as "creative solutions."
she noted, there's much less
flexibility when it comes to full-time
teaching contracts, and such
solutions are unlikely.
"In terms of teaching staff, we're
right at the aggregate class size now,
so we can't cut more without
contravening the legislation," the
business superintendent explained.
Baird-Jackson also admitted that,
for years two and three of the CAW
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contract, staff reorganization and the
elimination of private contracts
won't be enough for the projected
pay raises. With the Occasional
Teachers, added Williams, pay raises
are tied to the raises earned by full-
time teachers, and these may also
pose additional challenges in the
new contract's final two years.
"Basically . . . we're hoping
there's something in the
recommendations of the Rozanski
Commission (struck by the
provincial government to examine
the funding formula), and we're
hoping that the government follows
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through on some of the
Commission's recommendations."
Baird-Jackson said.
The Huron-Perth Catholic District
School Board, meanwhile, faces no
labour negotiations this year. As a
result of long-term agreements
signed last year, full-time
elementary and secondary teachers
are under contract until Aug. 31,
2004, while every other unionized
and -non-unionized labour group is
under contract until Aug. 31, 2003.
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