Ontario’s high school teachers want their contract negotiations to be an open book.

Union President Harvey Bischof announced Tuesday that the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation is ending the secrecy of negotiations with boards and the provincial government, posting its positions and any updates online — including costs.

Calling it “an unprecedented approach” for the 60,000-member OSSTF, Bischof said that “starting with our negotiating brief — our initial set of bargaining proposals — we will make every step of our bargaining process transparent” to educators and to the public.

“There is no question — it’s time to shine a light on the negotiating process,” he said.

Details are to be posted at bargainingforeducation.ca.

When asked if the union is taking too drastic a step given the sides have not yet exchanged proposals at the bargaining table, Bischof said the government has already very publicly made class-size changes and cut teaching positions.

Teachers in Saskatchewan are experimenting with what is called “open bargaining,” and some unions in the United States have also tried it. The idea is to ensure everyone is informed instead of just a small, select negotiating committee. It also prevents parties from misrepresenting demands, or putting forward any extreme ideas.

It is unclear if the government will follow suit. In a statement, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said as “I have stated consistently for months now, I want to reach a deal that provides predictability and certainty to students, parents and educators.”

He said his “negotiating team will continue to meet with OSSTF — and all of our labour partners — with the singular mission of reaching a deal that keeps kids in the class.”

The sides are to meet Monday.

A senior government official told the Star the minister received the OSSTF proposal shortly before it was publicly announced and that open bargaining “is not common practice. We are still trying to find the best path to move forward.”

However, the official said being so open could “fundamentally frustrate the bargaining process... the good faith exchange, the flow of ideas at the table.”

The OSSTF is seeking:

A return to the average class sizes of 2018-19, instead of the government’s move to boost them and shed thousands of teaching positions over the next four years, leading to fewer course offerings and sections.

A pause on the government’s e-learning plan, to be implemented next fall, that will require high school students earn four as-yet-unidentified credits in order to graduate. Instead, the union is asking that a committee “examine the viability” of the idea, which is unprecedented.

Improved funding for special education and to “address specific local needs” — the latter a part of the expired contract, which has led to program and staffing cutbacks at boards.

Salary increases tied to cost of living for the entire contract “to put a stop to the endless wrangling about compensation,” said Bischof. Current cost of living increases would likely be less than 2 per cent. However, the government has already capped any raises to public sector employees at 1 per cent.

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After analyzing teacher compensation “over longer periods of time, salary increases have tracked inflation anyway,” Bischof added. “Let’s end the roller-coaster ride and focus our attentions elsewhere.”

A “baseline minimum number of support staff positions within a school board to ensure that school boards would be able to continue to protect current levels of support — especially for the most vulnerable students.”

At least one early childhood educator in every full-day kindergarten classroom. (Currently, classes with fewer than 16 students can be teacher only.)

Benefits remain the same, with funding for inflationary costs.

A to-be-determined number of unpaid days off, “and for the savings generated to be redirected to programs and services” for students.

All education contracts expired at the end of August. Support staff, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, plan to work-to-rule job starting Sept. 30.

The OSSTF represents high school teachers, but also some support staff — including education assistants, social workers and speech pathologists, in elementary and secondary schools — whose ranks have also seen cutbacks. Bischof estimates about 500 of his members have lost jobs across the province.

NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles said the government “can’t spin their way out of this mess. They created this chaos, they’ve put in place these cuts, they have to back off them now.”

Bischof said the Ford government’s plan to “slash one of every four high school teaching positions” has already caused “confusion and stress for students and parents” because of limited course offerings.

He said “this government claims that they are engaged in ‘good faith bargaining’ while engaging in the exact opposite,” pointing to comments by the education minister that class-size increases can be reversed if unions propose savings elsewhere.