Some points to ponder to answer the questions raised:

1)  Be careful of the distinction between construction and maintenance.  Many of the examples cited in the stories on the TDSB would fall under maintenance.  The BWDSB uses its own employees for such jobs - we have our own certified carpenter, electrician and so on.  These people are extremely busy in our schools so they move rapidly from job to job with little wastage of time.  In fact some of the maintenance jobs are performed by our custodial staff.  I believe one example was the installation of a pencil sharpener - our custodians will gladly do that for us.  The only time our board employs outside companies would be for major renovations, additions or new construction.  There is no restriction that I know of, but then, I’m not working at the board office.

2) The OLRB was “...established by section 2 of the Labour Relations Act, 1948 and is continued by subsection 110(1) of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 S.O. 1995, C1, as amended. The Board is an adjudicative agency of the Government of Ontario and its’ staff is appointed under the Public Service Act.

The Board is an independent, adjudicative tribunal issuing decisions based upon the evidence presented and submissions made to it by the parties, and upon its interpretation and determination of the relevant legislation and jurisprudence. It plays a fundamental role on the labour relations regime in Ontario and encourages harmonious relations between employers, employees and trade unions by dealing with matters before it as expeditiously and as fairly as reasonably possible.

The OLRB’s mandate is to provide, as an independent tribunal, excellence in administrative justice through the effective resolution of labour and employment disputes.”  More info can be found here:  http://www.olrb.gov.on.ca/english/aboutus.htm

Some boards is doing well than others when it comes to how they utilities their work force like maintenance and custodial staff , it is true a lot of maintenance jobs is picking up the slack after construction companies as custodian is important rule to reduce total operation coasts .TDSB is total scandal ,it is maintenance job to instal pencil sharpener as well any custodian can do this job ? Do not forget we have the most educated taxi drivers in GTA ( almost 90% are university graduated from their back home )  and this could be applied on maintenance and custodial staff on most of the school boards ? The Greater Essex County District School Board is right in taking OLB to court and they will win because it is public money and they have the duty to protect it ? So the question now ,How the employer work with the employees to utilizes their capability and credential to serve the best interest of our school boards and the kids? it is our public money ?any law, act , memorandum , letter of understanding , guide lines
and so on can be challenged on court based on the interpretation and you need a good lawyer who knows the contradicting parts of law or how to convince the judge of his points . for example SEAC ( special education advisory committees) the education memorandum stating that NO employee of the board should be in this committee ?  regardless that this total discriminatory provision and easily can be challenged in court the fact are the majority on these committees are the board employees ?
So who is the boss ? MOE or Boards heads ? where is the accountability ? teachers are in the middle of the staircase ?maintenance and support staff at bottom ? so it might be a good idea to give t the tax payer the choice to chose what school , what to do with the vouchers or where to go ? and then some one will be held accountable.

Board-hired maintenance workers are unionized. I believe the no. of those individuals on the payroll of the TDSB was very high (in the hundreds if memory serves me correctly).

As for hiring out, in rural, small town Ontario it’s usually small, non-unionized trades people or technicians that do the work simply because unionized shops are in the minority.

Wayne, is splitting hairs, when in fact the Ontario Labour Board, is pushing an agenda of having unionized work sites on all construction of public buildings. All help along, with the lobbying efforts and fundraising of the construction and trades and their connections to the public sector unions.

The increase in Ontario public sector density can
be traced to an upward trend in the public sector employment rate which increased by 3 percentage points (20 percent) from 1997 to 2010. The Ontario public sector is heavily unionized; 7 in 10 workers are covered by collective agreements— this coverage rate has remained constant over time. Therefore when the employment rate increased so did public sector density.
. 
In contrast, the decrease in Ontario private sector union density can be linked to a decrease in the Ontario private sector coverage rate. Over time the coverage rate has decreased by 4 percentage points (about 20 percent).  The Ontario private sector is not heavily unionized; less than 2 in 10 workers are covered by collective agreements.”

http://www.lauriercc.ca/content/documents/Link/October_2010_Labour_Market_News.pdf

No doubt, the 2012 figures have not change significantly, but that has not stopped the intense lobbying of both the private and public unions, and the union heads to set up the conditions, by the means of the political routes as well, to ensure only unionized work sites at all public buildings and the construction of the public buildings, funded by the taxpayers’ purse.

Nancy,

I haven’t split any hairs.  A question was asked, and I provided information in response.  According to Chuck’s wish on another thread, I posted material and provided a link.  You ought to see the quotation marks around almost the entire Section #2.  All I did was copy the pre-amble to the ‘About Us’ section of the OLRB website since MW asked where the OLRB came from and why it exists.  Please note Nancy, I am a teacher - I do not work for the OLRB.

” These people are extremely busy in our schools so they move rapidly from job to job with little wastage of time.  In fact some of the maintenance jobs are performed by our custodial staff.  I believe one example was the installation of a pencil sharpener - our custodians will gladly do that for us.  The only time our board employs outside companies would be for major renovations, additions or new construction.  There is no restriction that I know of, but then, I’m not working at the board office.”

If that is the case Wayne, provide the data of when the little jobs of maintenance, such as the flapping roof shingle, or the leaky window, or the photo-copying machine and printer of the time and the rest of the big and small jobs of maintenance that the in-house maintenance of the school board has been tasked with. What is the time frame between requesting a repair job to the actual repairs.

My observations, and for the last 35 years or so in two different provinces, I certainly would not hire them to attend to maintenance repairs at my home when they show up a week later or longer, especially paying the big bucks that they do demand. I just find it curious the way you have described them as being busy, moving from one job to the next with little waste of time.

How often do parents hear from their kids, they don’t have the materials to do the homework, because of the broken down equipment, or lack of supplies such as toner and ink cartridges or the need to have toilet paper and soap in one’s school bag, or putting up with a leaky roof for a week or longer? 

Yes you are presenting the facts of one facet, but are presenting them in the best possible positive light. The OLRB has a lot to answer for, demanding that the taxpayers to foot the bill for unionized work sites in the public education system. It certainly appears the OLRB are no longer following their mandate of providing independent, non-partisan in issuing decisions and rulings on labour ,and management issues. Ordering a school board about does not enhance good relationships between labour and the school board, especially in a region that has more or less been decimated by the global economic crisis since 2008.

Interesting juxtaposition, Nancy:

Beginning of one of your paragraphs:  “If that is the case Wayne, provide the data of when the little jobs of maintenance ...”

Beginning of the next: “My observations ...”

Nancy, if my observations of the last 26 years are not valid, then neither are yours.

Furthermore, I’ll say this as clearly as I can:  I could care less about the OLRB. A question was raised about the origins and purpose of that organization.  I provided a link to that information.  If you have concerns about that information, take it up with the OLRB and stop badgering me.

You cannot hold people personally liable for the information posted on the sites they reference.  They did not write the material referenced.  You need to begin to understand the difference.

That is exactly my point - School boards do not normally published the data relating to maintenance and the time spent on tasks. Other related data to maintenance and labour.

It creates the conditions for relying on deductive reasoning and assumptions, because no one except for the top has all the information and data needed, to determined if 5 days is acceptable to repaired the copier or sealing a window.

Nor can anyone determined what is being said by the top people who are in the position to make the final decisions, as spin or the truth.

Take for example, the reduction in janitorial staff over the pass 15 years. The school board will always say that there will be no change to the cleaning and small maintenance services of the schools. And yet, I have observed two things.

1. Schools are not as clean as they once were.

2. Small maintenance jobs are piling up, since the janitor is far too busy keeping up with the cleaning.

Nor does it help when schools do not published a breakdown on their expenditures and throughout the year.

When a school board takes the Labour Board to court, because the Labour Board on issuing a legal directive, that the school board is a construction employer and therefore must used only union workers -  the labour board is over reaching their authority and mandate prescribed under the legislation.

In the aritcle - “In a legal twist, the local public school board is taking the Ontario Labour Relations Board to the province’s highest court.

It’s the latest step in a decade-long legal battle the Greater Essex County District School Board has waged so that it can open construction bids to non-union contractors.”

Non-union contractors must meet the same standards as the union contractors, as prescribed by governments and other licensing agencies. The only difference between the two, is non-union labour versus union labour.

Why is the labour board insisting a smaller more rural school board along with the Toronto school board to be identified as a construction employer, when no other board in Ontario is subject to the same standards? 

What makes the Greater Essex County District School Board special to be targeted?

What are the future ramifications, if the school board loses in court?  Will every school board become a ‘construction employer’?

There is something funny going on in Ontario, and perhaps this article might clear up, a few misconceptions, and allow a few connections to the dots, to my final question, what are the percentages to non-union construction firms to union construction firms in Ontario..

” Today in Canada about 70% of the industry is non-union.”  Lots on the Ontario situation, and any reasonable person might connect the dots to the demand of the Labour Board to a smaller school board on using only union workers.
http://www.cardus.ca/policy/archives/2234/

Sol Furer, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 773, which has fought the school board for years on the issue, said the legal battle is a waste of public funds?????  wow ??
So fighting to save our tax dollars became a waste of public funds?? That makes me ask so many questions , As civilized human being isn’t the change a big part of our daily life ? what is democracy means nowadays ? does it means stats quo for ever ?
most of the time there is no bad solders but always bad leaders , MOE give the absolute power to 72 boards and the funds necessarily for operation . the directors are totally responsible for how the money spend , we should not blame teachers , maintenance , or any other supporting staff at least at this point ,  we need to change hypocrites with technocrats in public system .
No one is above the law , the law is not a Bible and every law can be changed to fit our principles and morals through our constitution.That will take me back how the education system has failed generation of our kids in teaching them clear thinking ? If OLRB need to change their provisions so be it . the union leader are the best in destroying the union movement , they were not educated enough in playing politics, the members are not educated enough to practice their rights , the unionized worker in the USA has went down from 37 % to 7 % and they are dying .we need union movement to establish Fairness, equity and equality to fight back the greedy big co operations not to abuse right or misuse our tax dollars in this recession and give back the parents the power and the right to chose ?

“Nancy, if my observations of the last 26 years are not valid, then neither are yours”

He’s got you there Nancy. That your experience differs from his or mine is the beauty of this forum.

Nancy wrote “School boards do not normally published the data relating to maintenance and the time spent on tasks. Other related data to maintenance and labour.”

It’s there if you ask for it though. Actually my own board, some principals even were good about answering questions around this issue raised by parents on a school council.

You’re making way too many assumptions based on a Windsor area media story.  Most boards I am familiar with do what they do in-house and contract out when they need to…...going to tender with big jobs and going through a very public process.

In my region (which is also Wain’s I believe) there are limited choices of small, non-unionized businesses, contractors etc to choose from, so that’s what the board uses.

Is this to say that unionized work is the choice and poster child of the Labour Board? It appears that way often, and has been that way for eons. Does it make it right? Not at all.

That the Greater Essex board is taking this further is a credit to their leadership and choices it makes. Being a region intimately immersed in union leanings, it’s going to be an interesting legal fight….and one to watch.