MOU

The OSBCC Bargaining Committee met with the government, for the past year up till the Christmas holidays, and this Memorandum of Understanding is the result of it.

 

Pease communicate with your co-workers and post this meeting notice in your lunch rooms

 

Gerry

 

 

 

 

(Last week)

Hey folks,

hope your having a good winter break.

I received an email from Anna announcing that there was a "tentative template agreement" signed by CUPE (OSBCC bargaining team).
Broten seems to be pleased with it so I don't think it's going to be all that good for us. "This recent agreement demonstrates that it is possible to find solutions when we remain focused on putting students first.". I haven't seen this template yet and probably will not see it until the meeting in Toronto on Saturday the 5th. where they will try to get every president to say "yay".

There might be a little peace of candy in there because the minister is giving an additional 14 days to ratify.Not sure if this is will bring us to 13th of the 17th. of January but there is a very tight deadline.

 

Please feel free to reply with any suggestions or comments.

 

Gerry

 

PS When I start reading Laurel's memo, I can hear it sounding like Hitler's voice on an outdoor public address system with a hint of echo.

 

 

 

"Tomorrow – December 31, 2012, at 11:59 P.M. - is the negotiating deadline for teachers and support staff. Local agreements are to be submitted to the Ministry of Education under the Putting Students First Act. At this point, 65 ratified local agreements have been submitted. I am hopeful that those school boards, teachers and support staff who have yet to conclude and submit local agreements will do so. I am also hopeful that those agreements, should they arrive, will meet the fair and balanced standards that were clearly set out in the Putting Students First Act.

I am also pleased to announce that after an additional 30 hours of discussions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has signed a tentative template agreement for their 55,000 members. I want to thank CUPE for working with us to find a way forward before the deadline. As CUPE requires ratification of these agreements by their membership, we are prepared to provide locals and school boards with 14 additional days to do just that.

 

This recent agreement demonstrates that it is possible to find solutions when we remain focused on putting students first.

 

There has been ample time and sufficient opportunity to reach agreements that are fair to teachers and support staff while also being fair to Ontarians who expect us to protect the gains made in our schools.

 

We started discussions with our partners in February – almost a year ago. There has been over 10 months of negotiations and hundreds of hours at the table. I personally have met and spoken with unions and associations 80 times. As a result, we have seen agreements reached representing 55,000 teachers, over 4,000 support staff in the province, and now 55,000 CUPE educational workers. I want to thank those who worked with us, even up to the final hours, to find a way forward together. It's proof to the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), which spent only an hour in negotiations, and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) that when I spoke with them almost 10 days ago there was still time left to negotiate.


By midnight tomorrow night, all negotiations must be finalized and agreements submitted. To those school boards and unions which have yet to come to terms on fair, balanced and responsible contracts, I say to you that it is time to end the uncertainty for students, parents and taxpayers and get back to doing what we do best: putting students first. We can start by respecting tomorrow’s deadline and we can continue by ending labour unrest in our schools.

The deadline for negotiations will conclude tomorrow at midnight, and I will be available on January 3, 2013 at 10 a.m. to discuss further details and the government's next steps to put students first.”

-Laurel Broten, Minister of Education