Ontario’s public elementary school teachers reached tentative contract deal with the province
Ontario’s public elementary school teachers’ union has reached a tentative agreement with the provincial government and school boards, averting any job action over the next three years.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the tentative deal with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the province’s largest education union, on Tuesday.
“This is another significant tentative deal that demonstrates our government’s relentless focus on stability and getting students ‘back to basics’ in the classroom,” Mr. Lecce said on Tuesday. “I urge the remaining teachers’ unions to end the delay, and come to the table to sign an agreement that ensures that every child in Ontario can learn without the threat of strikes over the next three years. The time is now to get this done.”
ETFO members will receive details on the agreement later this week, and a ratification vote is being scheduled, the union said.
Karen Brown, president of the ETFO, said she was “pleased with the improvements” that the union was able to secure.
Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said that although details of the deal are confidential until ratified, it underscores the “important service” teachers provide to students.
Last month, the union said that its members voted 95 per cent in favour of strike action if contract negotiations with the government failed to reach a deal.
ETFO represents about 83,000 elementary teachers and occasional teachers, as well as early childhood workers, education support personnel and professional support personnel.
The union reached an agreement with the government and school boards for its 3,500 education workers. Last month, members voted 80 per cent in favour of accepting a four-year agreement, which included a wage increase of $1 per hour. This would mean a 4.2 per cent increase for an education worker earning $39,000 per year.
The contracts for all of Ontario’s education unions, including teachers’ unions, expired in August, 2022. The tentative agreement between ETFO, the government and school boards is for a four-year contract.
The government has urged the teachers’ unions to enter binding arbitration. That would mean no strikes or lockouts, because any items not agreed on at the bargaining table would be sent to a third-party arbitrator.
ETFO, along with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, rejected the proposal. The unions said their items, which include violence in schools and supports for special-needs students, would not be addressed through binding arbitration.
The Catholic and French teachers’ unions haven’t reached an agreement with the government.
ETFO asked to work with a conciliator appointed by the Minister of Labour.
In September, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation said its members approved a proposal to use binding arbitration, if needed, to reach a new contract with the government.
Under the approved proposal, that bargaining would continue until Oct. 27, and any items left unresolved will be sent to an arbitrator. “Now we have the opportunity to bypass traditional bargaining pathways to secure a fair collective agreement,” president Karen Littlewood said when her members approved binding arbitration.
Last year, the province reached a deal with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 education workers. The deal gave workers a $1-an-hour wage hike each year of the four-year agreement, amounting to an average annual increase of 3.59 per cent.
The deal with CUPE ended a weeks-long drama that came to a head when Premier Doug Ford’s government passed legislation that used the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to strip the union of its right to strike. The government retracted the move after members walked out anyway and the labour movement vowed widespread protests.
This article was reported by The Globe and Mail
