When Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty came into office four years ago, he had to overcome a decade of bitter labor-management relations that had alienated teachers and parents alike in the Canadian province. He quickly formed a 鈥済uiding coalition鈥� of key education and political leaders within the government to agree on a strategy.
Among his first actions was to eliminate a paper-and-pencil test for teacher licensure that most educators found demeaning; a mentoring and induction program for new teachers replaced it in 2005.
And, in an unprecedented move, as local teachers鈥� union contracts expired throughout the province in 2004, the government reached out to the leadership of the teachers鈥� federations to engage in talks to move the bargaining process forward.
That December, the government announced new measures to sustain 鈥減eace and stability鈥� in Ontario鈥檚 publicly financed schools. In exchange for agreeing to two- or four-year contracts, rather than the one-year pacts that had been the norm, the government guaranteed annual salary increases for all educators between the 2004-05 and 2007-08 school years. It also launched the first-ever 鈥減rovincial dialogues鈥� with Ontario鈥檚 four teachers鈥� unions and their respective school boards鈥� associations to discuss government policies that affected teachers, particularly teacher workload, staffing levels, and class sizes.
鈥淚t was very controversial,鈥� recalled Emily Noble, the president of the 60,000-member Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario from 2003 to 2007. 鈥淣egotiations had always been local.鈥�
But the talks led to the successful negotiation, without strikes, of four-year contracts in all of Ontario鈥檚 school districts.
鈥淚n the years preceding that, we just didn鈥檛 talk to people in government at all,鈥� said Rhonda Kimberley-Young, the secretary-treasurer of the Ontario Teachers鈥� Federation, an umbrella group for the four teachers鈥� unions that is not involved in bargaining.鈥淪uddenly, we had a government that was calling us all the time, setting up new structures for dialogue.鈥�
鈥楾rue Consultation鈥�
The provincial government established two new mechanisms to deal with potential conflicts and to ensure two-way communication with the field.
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A Student Success Commission, with representatives of the teachers鈥� unions and the school boards, advises the minister of education on contentious issues arising from its high school initiatives. A reviews systemwide issues arising from the four-year labor agreements at the elementary level and provides an alternative to formal arbitration and grievance processes. It includes representatives from the unions and the school boards, as well as a senior government official. In the first four months of operation, the commission reduced the number of potential grievances from 815 to 50.
鈥淚 would say it was true consultation,鈥� Ms. Noble said. 鈥淭here was listening on both parts.鈥�
Donna Marie Kennedy, a past president of the approximately 30,000-member Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, said: 鈥淎s a teacher leader, I would say that the initiative from the government was respect. And that made a tremendous difference.鈥�
鈥淭he rules of engagement are really important,鈥� she added. 鈥淭here鈥檚 open-minded communication. You鈥檙e never going to get everything you want, but there鈥檚 always a middle ground you can find.鈥�
Although everyone says the four-year agreements allowed breathing room that didn鈥檛 exist before, the question is whether such peace and stability can be sustained.
鈥淭he problem is what happens next time,鈥� said Ben Levin, the deputy minister of education from 2004 to April of this year. 鈥淚t will be important to find a way to achieve fair and reasonable contracts successfully again in 2008, but it鈥檚 not yet clear how that will happen.鈥�
