Both Ontario’s Education Minister and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation said Sunday that they are committed to negotiations with each other, just one day after talks between the groups stalled.
Teachers, the government and school boards, have been unable to agree on a number of issues, but the major "stumbling block" has been caps on class sizes, the head of the OSSTF said Sunday.
In an interview with CP24, Paul Elliott said he’s "beginning to suspect" the government wants to remove limits to class sizes to save money. Bigger classes could mean fewer teachers, and fewer salaries to pay.
"I think it really comes down a fiscal plan to end up starting to cut jobs,” Elliott said. “I just don’t see how that’s going to help education."
Meanwhile, Education Minister Liz Sandals said Sunday that the groups need to be willing to be more flexible.
"We knew this round of negotiations was going to be difficult, but the best way to resolve difficult issues is to be ready to bargain and actively engaged in the negotiation process," she said in a statement.
"All parties, including OSSTF, must be prepared to compromise and find creative solutions."
Negotiations both at the local and central level have been fraught this year.
Locally, teachers in Peel, Durham and the Sudbury-area Rainbow school districts face a labour-board ruling on whether they acted illegally when they went on strike earlier in the year. That decision is expected sometime this week.
Centrally, the government and OSSTF are onto their second mediator, and have had little success so far.
On Saturday, the union released a statement saying it intends to apply for conciliation for central table bargaining. If a conciliator is appointed and the groups are still unable to make any progress, the conciliator can request a "no board" report, which would pave the way for province-wide job action.
Sandals said she remains hopeful the groups can negotiate an agreement, but that the government would "take the appropriate action" if the school year is deemed to be in jeopardy.
Elliott also said Sunday that his union continues to hope talks will eventually lead to a resolution.
"We’re prepared to go back and have those discussions," he said. "But when the employer really doesn’t want to have those discussions, it makes it very difficult to move forward."
He said another round of bargaining for the Peel district is scheduled for June 5.
With files from the Canadian Press and CP24
