Teacher unions agree to provide receipts for controversial $2.5M payout

Ontario teacher unions have agreed to provide receipts for the controversial $2.5 million payout from the province to help cover bargaining costs, a demand Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Wednesday just days after the education minister came under fire for saying no accounting of the funds was needed.

While Wynne’s move — along with news the money had not yet been flowed to the three teacher unions — stunned the Legislature, the high school teachers’ union told the Star it came as no surprise.

“When we went through this in 2008 and again in 2012, the president had to sign an attestation (as to how the funds were spent) . . . we had to give a full accounting and a full report was provided — and we expected this would happen this time around,” Paul Elliott, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, told the Star in an interview.

In the past, the union has submitted not just receipts, but travel and accommodation details, names of those at the bargaining table each day and how many hours they spent negotiating, as well as what happened during talks that day.

Elliott said the $1 million payout won’t cover all the union’s bargaining costs — “it just flat-out doesn’t” — because the tab is already $1.3 million and expenses are still coming in.

While the union has a ratified deal with the province for its teachers, “we’re still negotiating for support staff” represented by OSSTF in boards scattered across all four public systems — public, Catholic, French and French Catholic — “and it’s a massive undertaking when you are talking about central deals” for 60,000 teachers and 15,000 staff, that include executive and local leaders plus negotiators, Elliott said.

“It adds up quickly,” and it’s possible that a bump in union dues will be needed to cover the bills, he added.

The Premier said the $2.5 million is part of the government’s “net zero” requirement — meaning it has been offset by cuts within the contract. However, it is unclear if that is actually the case.

Wynne told the Legislature the funds “didn’t come from the classroom … (and) didn’t come from programs for students . . . That money came out of the overall compensation package, those are the kinds of examples because sick leave, retirement gratuities — that’s all part of the compensation packages of teachers.”

Ann Hawkins, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, said the money for her union is not “net zero” and that the contract it negotiated was completed before the $1 million was agreed to. While it has not taken such funds in the past, she said providing proof of how they were spent is “no problem.”

Elliott said he believes the funds are not “net zero,” though he was unsure how the government is accounting for the money.

Both he and Hawkins said information about the payouts was given to members weeks ago, and Elliott said members did question it during ratification meetings.

Both union leaders disputed accusations that the money was a bribe for labour peace or to support the Liberals, noting they also donated to other parties. Elliott said OSSTF, in fact, gave “significantly more” to the NDP in the last election than it gave to the Liberals.

In total, the Ontario government has promised $1 million each to the OSSTF and Catholic teachers, as well as $500,000 to the much smaller union, AEFO, representing the province’s French-board teachers.

More funds are expected to be doled out when a deal is reached with support staff, who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE accepted similar payments in negotiations in 2008 and 2012 — $461,000 in total.

The union representing elementary teachers says it will not accept such a payout, and according to records provided by the Ministry of Education, also did not in contract talks in 2008 and 2012.

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is the only teacher union not to have reached a settlement with the province and school boards, but continues to negotiate. The Premier has said if ETFO and support staff don’t have tentative deals by Nov. 1, their pay could be docked.

On Tuesday, the Conservatives asked the auditor general to probe the payouts to the unions, and on Wednesday questioned if such payments are even allowed under the Labour Act.

On top of the $2.5 million going to teacher unions, an additional $4.6 million will be handed to school boards to cover their bargaining costs. Negotiations have been a lot lengthier than usual under the new two-tier bargaining system, requiring separate negotiations at the local level with school boards and with the province on broader issues, such as wages.