Visible approach to a crisis

Well, maybe the word crisis is better off with a previous government. Although…

I had no idea what to expect yesterday when I heard that OSSTF was about to hold a news conference.

Certainly, they couldn’t be announcing a contract settlement already. And, it was too early to announce a work action.

Maybe they were going to partner with the Catholic Teachers and the issue surrounding class sizes. Or maybe they were going to announce support for CUPE in their job action.

The answer was none of the above. They were announcing a new website.

OSSTF/FEESO to make bargaining process transparent to the public

For me, the concept was unheard of.

During my career, I had served on the Collective Bargaining Committee and we certainly didn’t do this. We would collect information from members and put together a brief for submission to the other side. The opportunity for people to come visit me and look at the brief was always there. I don’t recall a mad rush.

It was always a question at the mailbox after a day of negotiations “Well, do we have a contract yet?”

With this announcement and this very open transparency, every teacher in the province can see what is proposed. And not just teachers. Students, business people, newspaper writers, – anyone with an internet connection.

There should be no questions or surprises about ongoing negotiations – at least from the teacher perspective. It will be interesting to see how the government counters.