The bargaining table for teachers is unlikely to be made over, but the education ministry will never again foot the bill for negotiations.

Following a blistering report from Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk on Wednesday that called for more transparency and accountability along with a review, the government said it is unlikely the central bargaining scheme enshrined in its School Boards Collective Bargaining Act of 2014, will undergo major changes.

"What I can tell you is that in the preliminary feedback we got, there was agreement from everybody that there isn’t an appetite to do major changes to the collective bargaining act. It's just doing a little bit of tweaking," Education Minister Liz Sandals said.

After inking the last of its central agreements with teachers' unions, the ministry enlisted a facilitator in March to review the central bargaining process. That report is not expected back until the summer.

One certainty is that the government will not be responsible for meals, hotels rooms and other such expenses charged by unions.

"We will not be paying the unions for collective bargaining expenses in the future," Sandals said, adding that the first round of talks under a new formula were especially tough. "That’s never going to happen again, we'll never have to have this convoluted process of figuring out central bargaining."

After a speech to fellow Tories at last night's fundraiser, Conservative leader and education critic Patrick Brown called the situation "worrying."

"My immediate worry is it's resulting in money out of the classroom," he said. "When this came out earlier this year, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) said they didn't even ask for the money. So, why is the government taking money out of the classroom and, frankly, pushing it on unions?"

Indeed, the attorney general's report noted the ETFO did not ask for bargaining reimbursements but did receive $600,000 for professional development of occasional teachers. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), one of the central bargaining agents, said it welcomed suggestions in Lysyk's report.

“CUPE is eager to participate in a review of what worked and didn't work in this new tandem process, and we feel strongly that any review must include an analysis of costs,” the union said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: snanji@qpbriefing.com or 416-212-5789

No appetite for change at teachers’ bargaining table

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