TORONTO – Ontario’s auditor general says Premier Kathleen Wynne’s decision to reopen contracts for teachers last year cost taxpayers nearly half a billion dollars.
Public school teachers withdrew from extracurricular activities and staged large protests after the Liberals legislated contracts with a two-year wage freeze in 2012.
Wynne agreed to reopen negotiations with the Elementary Teachers Federation and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation after she became premier in early 2013.
Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, who was asked by the Progressive Conservatives to examine the two sets of teachers’ contracts, says the renegotiated deals cost an additional $468 million.
Lysyk says changes to sick leave, retirement benefits as well as additional professional development days and increased maternity leave cost $355 million, plus another $113 million to eliminate wage differences between teachers’ unions.
But the auditor says the Liberals were correct in assuming the collective contracts with teachers, which reduced their ability to bank sick days and cash them out at retirement, would result in about $2.1 billion in savings.
Auditor says reopening teachers’ contracts cost Ontario $468M - Toronto | Globalnews.ca
Public school teachers withdrew from extracurricular activities and staged large protests after the Liberals legislated contracts with a two-year wage freeze in 2012.
Wynne agreed to reopen negotiations with the Elementary Teachers Federation and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation after she became premier in early 2013.
Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk, who was asked by the Progressive Conservatives to examine the two sets of teachers’ contracts, says the renegotiated deals cost an additional $468 million.
Lysyk says changes to sick leave, retirement benefits as well as additional professional development days and increased maternity leave cost $355 million, plus another $113 million to eliminate wage differences between teachers’ unions.
But the auditor says the Liberals were correct in assuming the collective contracts with teachers, which reduced their ability to bank sick days and cash them out at retirement, would result in about $2.1 billion in savings.
Auditor says reopening teachers’ contracts cost Ontario $468M - Toronto | Globalnews.ca