ONTARIO—Elementary school teachers in Ontario have reached a tentative contract agreement with the provincial government, that if ratified, would avert any possible central strikes in the next three years.
“I don’t have any details and won’t have any details on the tentative agreement until next week,” Liana Holm, president of the Rainbow board ETFO, told The Expositor. “I do know we have a tentative deal for sure, and people will be happy with that.”
The ETFO announced that the deal covering 80,000 teachers and occasional teachers “protects their collective agreement entitlements and also addresses key bargaining goals,” but is not making details public yet.
“This has been the longest round of central bargaining in ETFO’s history (with over a year of bargaining), but we persisted,” President Karen Brown said in a statement. “We remained focused on getting government cuts off the table and on addressing members working conditions, which are students learning conditions.”
Stephen Lecce, Ontario minister of education said the deal involves some items that will be decided through binding arbitration.
Ontario has already agreed to give public high school teachers and ETFO education workers retroactive salary increases to compensate them for constrained wages under a law known as Bill 124. Amounts were agreed to for two of the three years affected by Bill 124, but the amount for the third year will be decided at arbitration. He would not confirm if this was included in the ETFO agreement, reported Canadian Press.
“Our youngest in elementary schools need consistency in their lives,” said Minister Lecce in a press release. “Our priority is to ensure children remain in class without disruption, with a focus on going back to basics so students can master reading, writing and math skills.”
“To deliver on our commitment to parents and provide stability in their lives, I am pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative central agreement with the ETFO,” said Minister Lecce. “This agreement brings us one step closer to ensuring there will be no province wide job actions or strikes in all English-language public schools for the next three years.”
“This is another significant tentative deal that demonstrates our government’s relentless focus on stability and getting students ‘back to basics’ in the classroom,” said Minister Lecce. “I urge the remaining teacher’s unions to end the delay and come to the table and sign an agreement that ensures every child in Ontario can learn without the threat of strikes over the next three years. The time is now to get this done.”
Members of ETFO had previously voted 95 percent in favour of a central strike, and Ms. Brown said that is what made the difference at the bargaining table. “Once they saw that strong mandate, we saw some movement,” she said.
Local deals also get bargained with individual school boards and Ms. Brown said ETFO locals retain the ability to strike if those negotiations stall.
The government is still in bargaining with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, whose members also voted in favour of a strike, and with the union representing teachers in the French public system.
Public high school teachers are going to binding arbitration with the government in order to get a new contract, eliminating the possibility of a strike.
