Ford’s Government fails to recognize and fairly compensate ETFO members

BY PAUL JUNOR

The ruling by William Kaplan, Chair of the Arbitration Board on Wednesday, on May 29^th, 2024, with respect to compensation for teachers and occasional teachers belonging to ETFO was welcoming news for its members. It was over a year and half ago that these members of the ETFO approved a central agreement for the negotiations that concluded in December 2023. An essential part of this ratification was mandatory arbitration for compensation (salary and daily OT rate). The hearing was held on April 17^th, 2024, and the ruling was finalized with the announcement of the outcome in a press release by ETFO.

Details of the ruling by the Arbitration Board was also announced by Barbara Patrocnio in a briefing by QP. It notes, “The 11.25% increase over four years becomes an 11.73% increase when compounded over the first years. Breaking down the numbers, this means increases of 3% for 2022 – 2023, 3% for 2023 -2024, 2.75% for 2024 – 2025 and 2.5% for 2025 – 2026.”

The press release by ETFO notes that their decision was based on the acknowledgement of the expertise and qualifications of OT’s which ensures that their daily OT rates will be altered to reflect the increased baseline average rate starting September 1^st, 2024. In addition, the press release specifies that, “All ETFO locals with daily OT rates lower than the baseline average will increase to the new average rate plus receive the 2.75 percent awarded for the 2024 – 2025 school year. Any local with a daily OT rate higher than the new baseline average rate will continue at that rate, plus the 2.75% awarded for 2024 – 2025. All daily OT rates will then increase by an additional 2.5% in 2025 – 2026.”

The cumulative effect of these yearly increases over the course of the agreement will result in the highest pay increase in more than a decade for these ETFO members. For the OT locals, the press release states that “ETFO expects the compounded compensation increase for daily OT’s moving to the new baseline average rate to be in the range of 14% to 15%. The compensation increase for all ETFO OT locals overall should be above 13%.”

Karen Brown, President of ETFO states, “This compensation award should have been achieved at the bargaining table. Instead of coming together to reach a fair and reasonable agreement, the Ford government was intent on devaluing our members who are already facing: increased violence, insufficient support for students with special needs, heavy workloads, and burnout. This award highlights Ford’s government failure to recognize and fairly compensate ETFO members.”

President Brown notes further, “Teachers and OTs are professionals with specialized skills developed through rigorous training and continuous professional development. Just compensation honours this expertise and helps ensure dedicated, qualified individuals feel valued and remain in the teaching profession.”

The results of the arbitration decision is good news for all those who have fought strongly against the provincial government imposition of low wage increases that circumvent the collective bargaining process. Hopefully, this will ensure that in the future the PC-led government of Doug Ford will respect the integrity of the collective bargaining rights and ensure that public sector works are equitable remunerated especially in these times of high inflation, grocery prices, energy costs and rental expenses.