Part I: Bankruptcy Lawyers
By Agenda producer Meredith Martin, Feb. 4, 2013
In the above clip, Steve Paikin questioned the claim that bankruptcy lawyers were at the first meeting between the Ministry of Education and the unions in February 2012. He did this because the logic behind having bankruptcy lawyers at a government-union meeting is not obvious. The government was trying to save money, but it wasn't a private business facing bankruptcy. So why invite bankruptcy lawyers? ...
Part II: Kitchener-Waterloo Byelection
By Agenda producer Meredith Martin, Feb. 5, 2013
Was the Kitchener-Waterloo byelection a factor in the government's decision to pass Bill 115?
The clip is a bit jumbled at the end, because the conversation then moves to another guest, but the answer is yes, at least two of the teachers at our roundtable felt that the reason the government was so heavy-handed with the teachers was to show the Tories in the Kitchener-Waterloo region that they could be tough on unions, too. ...
Part III: Sick Days
By Agenda producers Meredith Martin and Daniel Kitts, and student intern Taryn Mackenzie-Mohr, Feb. 8, 2013
Before the introduction of Bill 115, Ontario teachers were allowed to take 20 sick days a year. Up to 200 unused days could accumulate in a "sick bank" and those days were paid out upon retirement. Since we began following the labour dispute between the province and the teachers’ unions, several issues related to this policy have emerged as points of contention. ...
Banner image credit: John Bonnar/rabble.ca.
