EdVo-Post: Current Collective Agreements

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Why aren’t students, and student well-being, part of teacher collective agreements?

Most media reports and public discussion related to collective agreements deal with money.  Very little attention is given to the rules that determine what happens in the classroom and in the school.   And when these rules are mentioned, the actual details are almost never mentioned.

But the details matter.

That is why you’ll find links to the actual 2008 collective agreements governing the way schools work. The language of many of the agreements is legalese, but if you read your way through one or two, you’ll be surprised at how few mentions there are of students.  (Or if you want to use a short-cut, clip a link and then search for “student” and see what comes up.

The needs of students are not only missing from the collective agreements, the teachers unions 2014/15 priorities are also make no mention of students:

  • The leaders of the secondary school teachers union (OSSTF) ensured that “union history” was on their 2014/2015 priority list, but ignored student well-being or support
  • The leaders of the elementary teachers union (ETFO) vowed to “protect the collective bargaining rights of all members” and “support international assistance”, but forgot to place a value on improving student achievement

In contrast, the leadership of Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA), which represents Trustees, set 5 priorities, all of which explicitly refer to, and are grounded in, student achievement and well-being.

Inexplicably, some Boards and union locals treat their collective agreements as confidential, and not to be shared with the public.

Here are some of the 2008-12 collective agreements.

In 2008, ETFO and OSSTF both prepared a list summarizing the what they considered to be the most relevant terms of every teachers collective agreements with Public School Boards (elementary comparison / secondary comparison).

  • Kawartha Pine Ridge: Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary
  • : Elementary / Secondary