Human Resources Legislative Update
Changes to Proposed Legislation on Teacher Bargaining
Date: August 28, 2012
On August 27, 2012, the Ontario Legislative Assembly resumed, and the government introduced Bill 115, Putting Students First Act, 2012.
The government has made a number of changes to the original draft of the Bill that was released on August 16, 2012, including a key change to the proposed regulation-making powers about the imposition of collective agreement provisions concerning teacher control over diagnostic student assessments and the mandatory consideration of seniority in teacher hiring.
Bill 115 as now drafted would limit such regulations regarding testing and hiring to employees represented by a union or teacher federation (such as OECTA or AEFO) that has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education on or before August 31, 2012. Such regulations will not apply to teacher federations (such as ETFO and OSSTF) if they have not signed a Memorandum with the Ministry by that date.
For background information on the Putting Students First Act, please see our FTR Now of August 20, 2012, “Ontario to Introduce Sweeping Legislation Concerning School Board Bargaining.”
