Education Minister Lisa Thompson says education unions are being “irresponsible” for not coming to the bargaining table early.

Apart from Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), no other unions have served notice to bargain.

But the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association accused Thompson of playing games, saying there’s no point in starting negotiations while the ministry continues to hold consultations on issues such as class size.

Thompson said Tuesday that “we thought it would be proactive to invite our labour partners to come to the table” to give them “an opportunity to start early good faith bargaining to allow labour negotiations to conclude in time to ensure our students will be in classes, where they belong, in September.”

With current agreements expiring at the end of August — a practice that was formally put in place by a previous Progressive Conservative government — Thompson said the date “coincides with the start of the fall school year. We believe this is unacceptable. Our government will be considering changing the expiry date of future education sector labour agreements to a different time of year to minimize any disruption to students’ ability to attend class.”

Thompson said she’s “pleased” OSSTF has filed notice to bargain, and accused the unions that have not of “acting irresponsibly and causing unnecessary fear and anxiety for parents.”

Read more:

Ontario high school teachers union files notice to bargain with Ford government

Ontario to scrap seniority-based hiring for teachers, education minister says

High school classes of 46? That’s where Halton board warns Ford government changes to education could lead

Liz Stuart, president of the Catholic teachers association, called Thompson’s remarks “inflammatory” and “a childish, desperate attempt to shift blame for the damage the government is doing to publicly funded education in Ontario.”

She said it shows “a complete lack of understanding on the part of the minister surrounding the actual bargaining process” that gives either school boards or the unions the right to file early.

“We haven’t made that decision at this time, and neither have the school boards,” Stuart told the Star, adding both unions and boards want detailed “technical papers” on their finances for the upcoming school year before sitting down to negotiate, which the government has not provided.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Parents, Stuart added, should “know that Catholic teachers want to be in their classrooms teaching come this September, despite the disruption this government is causing by the elimination of thousands of classes across the province of Ontario” by boosting class sizes starting in Grade 4.

Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, said his union “intends to follow the process set out in Ontario’s bargaining legislation,” under which school boards and unions — not the government — have until the end of August to file notice to bargain.