A deal has been reached between elementary teachers and the Ontario government.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario says after 14 months of bargaining, a tentative central agreement has been reached covering 80,000 teachers and occasional teachers.
Details of the agreement will be shared with union members on Thursday, November 23, after a meeting with their local presidents and chief negotiators. A ratification vote is being scheduled; details of the vote will be shared with members once they are confirmed.
“This has been the longest round of central bargaining in ETFO’s history, but we persisted,” a published statement from ETFO President Karen Brown reads. “We remained focused on getting government cuts off the table and on addressing members’ working conditions, which are students’ learning conditions.”
“This agreement brings us one step closer to ensuring there will be no provincewide job actions or strikes in all English-language public schools for the next three years,” said Education Minister Stephen Lecce in a news release. “This is another significant tentative deal that demonstrates our government’s relentless focus on stability and getting students ‘back to basics’ in the classroom.”
A previous deal was reached in October covering ETFO’s education workers. The province also has central agreements with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW).
Additionally, an agreement on a process with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) teachers and education workers was reached that ensures no strikes throughout the school year.
