Four Ontario Teachers’ Unions legally challenge the school re-opening plan

BY PAUL JUNOR

It came as no surprise that the four major teachers’ unions decided to launch a legal challenge to the Ontario government’s school reopening plans. The unions are: the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), Elementary Teachers’ Federation Association (ETFO) and the French-speaking school board (FESS0). These unions have responded to the government’s plan, which was released on July 30th, 2020 and indicated that they intend to initiate a legal challenge.

In a letter that was communicated to their members on Thursday, August 13th, 2020, they raised specific concerns that the re-opening plans fail to, “Take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances to protect teachers and educators as required by Section 25(2) (h) of the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA).”

The unions raised additional concerns in a meeting with Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development on Monday, August 24th, 2020. It ended with, “No clear commitment from the Minister to address the specific serious health and safety concerns raised surrounding the reopening of the province’s schools next month.” In a subsequent letter on Tuesday, August 25th, 2020, the four major teachers unions in a joint statement wrote, “There are no clear health and safety standards being set out or ordered by the Ministry so that its inspectorate and workers can apply commonly accepted precautions as schools re-open. The Ministry confirmed that no such standards have yet been set.”

The unions asked the Ministry of Labour to issue orders with respect to the specific health and safety standards with respect to five critical orders requested as:

1. Class sizes of 15 to 20 students to ensure physical distancing where the two-metre distance cannot be maintained in a given classroom.

2. Cohort maximum set at 50 and to be applicable to all education workers as well as students.

3. Adherence to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, “Schools and University Re-opening” which deals with re-opening during the pandemic, with respect to school and education worksite ventilation.

4. Adherence to the standards set out by the: Ministry of Labour, Public
Service, and Health and Safety Association for student transportation during COVID-19.

5. A monthly review of all Ministry orders to ensure compliance with the best science available at that time.

In their letter on Tuesday, August 25th, 2020, it revealed that, “The Ministry is considering the requested orders which have been related in writing and sent to the Ministry at the request of the Ministry staff. At the meeting Ministry staff indicated that there would be a response to such requests, by the end of the week (August 28th,2020), and the union requested that the response be provided in writing.”

There was no response from the Ministry by the deadline and the four major unions wrote a joint statement on August 31st, 2020, which stated that, “As of August 28th, 2020, the date upon which it said it would respond, the Ministry of Labour has failed to comply with these requests.” This prompted the legal challenge.

The letter states, “They have been left with no choice but to file formal appeals with the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB).” Furthermore, the joint letter indicates that each union will be filing their own appeal with the OLRB in accordance with Section 25(2)(h) of the OHSA. The union states, “The actions we are seeking are in line with those that have been put in place in workplaces, and other public spaces across Ontario.”