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aaa She aa oad ea bl SFE AS BRE de at i Se I IE bd gf YOY) if eA 5 WE 1.14 EEE EIT 14 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 11, 1989 Teachers band together by Rob Streich Over 23,000 teachers and public employees staged a dem- onstration of solidarity at a Liber- al Party convention in Hamilton on April 1. Among them was a busload of teachers from Uxbridge and Scugog Township. together 750 teachers from Dx Region and another 250-300 local Ontario Public Ser- vice Employees Union members were in attendance. The worried teachers travelled to the meeting in a dozen school buses, by train, car, Grey Coach - anyway to get there. The members of the Ontario Teacher's Federation and OPSEU are upset that the provincial gov- emment has refused to continue to bargain in good faith. Alan Monks, Ontario Secon- dary School Teachers' Federation President for district 17 (Durham Region) is hoping that the convic- tion demonstrated in Hamilton will bring the government back to the bargaining table. Ontario Treasurer Bob Nix- on has threatened to impose legis- lation requiring the teachers to in- grease their pension Som dpution, y one ent O ir : Mr. Nixon's brief words to the semonstrators in Hamilton did not promise any change in the government's intentions. Treasurer Nixon's stated pur- pose with this legislation is that, we do not want to be a burden to other generations." Teachers feel that this is just an excuse for years of bad management of the pension fund. Teachers across the province have agreed to join in one-day ro- tating Yelkans n he Prove ar- itrarily passes this legislation. Mr. Monks explained that the province justifies their planned action by pointing to a statistical projection which may result in a deficit in the Teachers' pension plan. Monks said that what this in- crease will mean, will be that a teacher beginning this year will have to pay an extra one-years' salary into the pension plan by the time they retire. Because the provincial gov- ernment is essentially the employ- er for teachers, they are party to negotiations over things like pen- sions not the school boards. Last fall, the provincial gov- emnment and the teachers' fedcra- tion conducted a review of the pension situation. Currently, the government has complete control over the teachers superannuation fund and the su uation ad- justment fund (which provides for indexing). This also means that the gov- ernment has the fund to invest, and gain interest from. What everyone is upset about is that the provincial gov- ernment has arbitrarily decided that they need to impose "worst case" statistics which have deter- mined a potential deficit in the pension fund. ; The province claims that there is a $461 million deficit pro- jected forward over the next two decades. -- PSYCHOTHERAPY -- -- DIVORCE MEDIATION -- Port Perry Counselling Services MEDICAL ASSOCIATES, 462 PAXTON ST. Maureen Salkeld, B.A., M.Ed. -- MARRIAGE & FAMILY COUNSELLING -- -- STRESS MANAGEMENT -- -- DAY or EVENING -- ~WWwwinv, May Ist Now Accepting = Ist Class "~~ Registrations PAN Learn to Drive... and Survive Over 300,000 graduates recommend Young Drivers of Canada Training centers coast to coast GRAND OPENING APRIL 10 o Driver training for all ages © Free pick-up at home for in-car ® Private in-car instruction © Retraining courses available for commercial drivers . © The Young Drivers program is only available at a Young Divers Center. o Defensive driving you can live with For information, brochures and course schedules call: 2 Brock St. W., Uxbridge 852-9705 The problem lies with the su- perannuation adjustment fund. If this smaller fund were combincd with. the larger, the Ontario Teachers Federation thinks sur- pluses will cancel deficits. Mr. Monks explained that no one is convinced that such a defi- cit will take place. If projected interest rates were only half a per cent higher, there would be no deficit at all. The figures which the gov- emment is working with project a real rate of return of only 3-and- a-half per cent. Real interest has run at an average of 6 per cent for the last few years. The Ontario Teachers Feder- ation proposed that the govern- ment should allow the teachers to share in the profits and risks asso- ciated with investing the billions of dollars. The government was not willing to allow that change to oc- cur. Nor would they allow the appointment of a third, indepen- dent party to invest and manage the fund. Monks holds that if the mon- er was invested in safe, profita- ble options (not even as risky as blue chip stocks), there would be enough of a profit made over the years to make up any deficit. Already, the teachers are paying an extra percentage today to allow pensions to be indexed. Although the government has often encouraged two-party disputes to be settled through ar- bitration, they appear unwilling to allow negotiations to continue. Mr Monks said that, "on April 1, the teachers were giving Robert Nixon a clear message that they are tough negotiators as well. If he goes ahead and legis- lates against the teachers, there will be over 250,000 teachers plus their families and friends who will remember on election day. 4 "If this plan goes ahead, and the government forces an unfair tax on a select group of the popu- lation, it is only a matter of time before they go after another group." This is why OPSEU mem- bers have joined ranks with the teachers, their pension plan is very similar, and will likely be next on the table. It is unfortunate that the On- tario school system should be get- ting this bad publicity at a point with a teacher shortage looming. Next year, schools will be doing all they can to convince teachers to come to, or stay in Ontario. 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