Teacher Seniority

Last Thursday the government revoked the rule that Ontario school boards hire teachers from a pool of teachers with the most seniority. The seniority rule has a complicated history. The Fair Hiring Practice was negotiated to deal with the nepotism and cronyism that was rampant in the hiring practices in school boards. The Minister of Education’s suggestion that this “rewards union seniority over merit” has more to do with his dislike for unions than actual merit. Seniority is not granted by the union. It is personal seniority, the amount of time in service. This move is simply an attack on unions and will only erode the quality of education in our schools.


On Saturday the Globe and Mail reported that the TDSB is looking at several options to make up for a shortage of French teachers, including hiring French speaking individuals to make up for the shortfall. Again we note the possible erosion of our education system by eroding the rules. Poor planning by the government has led to this shortfall but instead of planning ahead they are being reactionary and dealing with a crisis by lowering the standards and therefore the quality of education in our schools.


Whether you are a member of a union or not, organized labour has helped to improve the working conditions for all Canadians. The things we take for granted like a five day work week and parental leave would not be the norm were it not for organized labour.


The NDP believes that “good” jobs are “unionized” jobs. The Ontario NDPs Green New Deal asks “How can Ontario ensure that unions have the tools they need to organize in the new economy — giving every worker the opportunity to belong to a union? “ Rather than attacking unions, let’s work with organized labour to a brighter, greener, better Ontario.

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