High school teachers in Ontario have accepted the Ford government’s binding arbitration proposal, ending the threat of a possible strike for at least the next three years.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation says it’s members voted “overwhelmingly” to enter into a proposal to continue bargaining with the Ontario government until October 27, and if no deal is reached all remaining issues would be settled by binding arbitration. The approved proposal means there will be no strikes or lockouts during this round of bargaining.null
OSSTF President Karen Littlewood says the proposal gives the union an opportunity to bypass traditional bargaining pathways in order to secure a fair collective agreement.
“This is not a tentative agreement, we’ve agreed on a pathway forward,” Littlewood tells CityNews 680. “I want our members to know that we’re going to bargain as much as we can at the table and then let an arbitrator make those final decision.”
The union says the proposal also includes a remedy for “wages lost” under Bill 124 – a 2019 law which capped salary increases for teachers and other public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years. It was ruled unconstitutional by an Ontario court, but the government has appealed.
Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce called the announcement a “significant step forward” when it comes to providing stability for high school students.
“We came together to put 400,000 English public high school students first, and as a result, a student who started high school last year will now graduate in three years without the threat of strikes,” Lecce said in a statement Wednesday night. “This will allow students to focus on their studies as our government ensures school boards get back to basics.”
Lecce is calling on the remaining education unions in the province to reach a similar deal with the government in order to prevent any possible disruption to the school year.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has rejected the government’s proposal for binding arbitration when it comes to outstanding issues, having filed for conciliation over what it calls the “unacceptably slow pace of bargaining.” Elementary teachers are currently holding in-person strike votes until Oct. 17.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association is set to hold strike votes on Oct. 18 and 19.
Education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees were the first to get a deal in this round of contract negotiations, with CUPE saying the deal came with a $1-per-hour raise each year, or about 3.59 per cent annually, for the average worker.
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