Overview
Principals and vice-principals are part of the school board’s management team. As a member of the management team, the principal and vice-principal are responsible for representing and implementing the board’s strategic directions, the board improvement plan and the directions and tasks assigned by the senior administration on a day-to-day basis. As the frontline representative of the management team in the school, the principal and vice-principal can also provide invaluable insights and a school-based perspective to management decision-making. As principals and vice-principals, you and your colleagues participate in committee meetings, board meetings and may have representation on board negotiating teams. The principal and vice-principal have significant management responsibilities including performance appraisal, attendance management, safe schools, budgets, school councils and supervision and discipline of staff to name just a few.
Each of these management functions is performed within the context of legislation, regulations and the prevailing collective agreements between the board and various unionized employee groups.
The terms labour relations and contract administration are often used to describe the exercise of management functions in a unionized environment. The principal and vice-principal must exercise their responsibilities from a management perspective, uphold the rights and responsibilities written in the collective agreements and do so in a manner that promotes positive and mutually respectful labour relations. It is a difficult balancing act.
Advice
There are a number of keys to successful labour relations. The first comes with the recognition that the collective agreement is between the board and the union—it is not just the union’s contract. This perspective promotes a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to labour relations. It is based upon a recognition that both management and labour have rights and responsibilities to be upheld.
Your responsibilities for contract administration as principal and vice-principal is to ensure that you administer all provisions of the collective agreements. This, of course, means enforcing management rights as well as upholding the terms and conditions of employment as agreed to between the board and the union. Sometimes, a union representative may state that if an action is not included in a collective agreement you or your colleagues can’t do it. Of course, the opposite is true. This is referred to as the Residual Theory of Management Rights. Unless a management function is curtailed or restricted by a specific reference in the collective agreement, it remains unfettered, subject to any statute, regulation, or case law that may prevail.
In addition to the Education Act and Regulations, other legislation that may prevail includes the Ontario Health and Safety Act, the Human Rights Act and the Employment Standards Act, for example. There is also the expectation that management will act fairly, reasonably and non-arbitrarily
You need to know in detail the collective agreements in operation in the school. This is not as difficult as it sounds. All collective agreements include a number of common provisions. Moreover, boards generally try to ensure that the common provisions are applied consistently across collective agreements. For example, each collective agreement may contain a personal leave provision. Often the terms of such a provision are common across employee groups. Therefore, another key to successful contract administration is to know the collective agreements as well as the union representatives for the employee groups in the school.
There are a number of high traffic areas of the collective agreements that the principal and vice-principal should focus on. Staffing, leave and hiring provisions are areas that principals and vice-principals are often involved with. Create a calendar of dates that apply for staffing and leave applications and remind staff of these dates. Staff appreciate the reminder and the union representative recognizes that you and your colleagues are familiar with the collective agreement. Doing such can assist labour relations in the school.
All collective agreements also contain a management rights clause. Familiarize yourself with these clauses too.
Another key to successful labour relations is the professional exercise of management responsibilities. The principal and vice-principal are responsible for supervising the school staff. Explain the school board’s mandates and the legal obligations that you must enact to the school staff. Be clear about your expectations and apply them consistently with all staff. Solicit staff input and feedback. Invite items for the staff meeting agenda and joint committees. Respect is earned and must be mutual.
Maintaining high standards and expectations in a consistent and reasonable manner contributes to a positive school culture.
The principal and vice-principal are responsible for employee behaviour and performance. Setting high expectations for behaviour and providing meaningful appraisals of employee performance encourages professional learning, growth, and development. Each is also a catalyst to identify opportunities for support, to clarify board and school goals and objectives and provide accountability. The entire school staff is interdependent. An effective courageous conversation with a staff member can have an impact on all staff and work toward the development of a collaborative school culture where all staff contribute and rely upon one another.
By taking a positive, proactive and consistent approach to labour relations, the principal and vice-principal are implementing each of the domains of the Ontario Leadership Framework in their schools:
- building relationships and developing people
- developing the organization
- leading the instructional program and
- securing accountability regarding the practices, knowledge, attitudes and competencies of staff.