73 thousand Elementary teachers in Ontario are now working without a contract and the retoric is heating up.
Their last contract ran out at the end of August and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says if they don’t ratify new local agreements by November 30th, the provinces’ last offer will be withdrawn.
That offer is for three per cent each year in a four year contract.
President of the Elementary Teachers Federation, David Clegg tells Bayshore broadcasting news the issue has never been wages.
He says if the province refuses to reduce class sizes and increase funding per student, then no deal will be struck.
In the Bluewater District school board the local Teacher Federation President says no bargaining will happen before the last week in October.
Nancy Lawlor says class sizes for grades 4-8 average 27 in the Bluewater system.
That is above the province target of 25.
Lawlor says by comparison, Kindergarten to grade three classes are twenty students per teacher, while high school classes are 22 students per teacher.
The other key issue in dispute is funding per student, which is about 700 dollars less per student compared with the secondary level.
That means more fund raising by parents for classroom essentials, and the teachers want to reduce or eliminate that shortfall.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is quoted as saying the provinces’ wage offer would bring the average elementary teachers salary to over 90 thousand dollars a year.
Bayshore Broadcasting News has done it’s own investigation on salaries and found the average is closer to 63 thousand dollars.
Currently, most boards have a MAXIMUM TEACHER SALARY of 84 thousand dollars for teachers with ten years of experience.
