TORONTO — Ontario's Education Minister Liz Sandals is calling $2.5 million in payouts to teachers' unions this year a "rather large investment" to get them to the bargaining table.
Sandals has defended the payments to the unions representing secondary teachers, English Catholic teachers and French teachers as being necessary because the transition to a new bargaining system made this round quite lengthy.
In 2008 and 2012 — when $1.24 million was paid to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents support workers, and the French teachers' union — there were informal discussions as a precursor to the Liberal government enacting the new bargaining process.
The ministry has said that because those discussions were voluntary it was appropriate to pay for the unions' participation — and this year it was necessary to help pay their costs to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.
Sandals said today after question period that the purpose of the payments is "to support the meetings taking place."
She says for a transformation to work the first step is "to get the people into the building and committed to making the process work by being there and in this case that's been a rather large investment."
