Ontario’s public high school and elementary teachers are set to receive additional retroactive salary increases to offset constrained wages imposed by Bill 124. Following negotiations between the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), and the provincial government, certain unresolved issues were deferred to arbitration.
As part of the agreement, both parties agreed to an extra 0.75 percent raise for each of the first two years of the previous contract to address income limitations under Bill 124. However, the compensation for the third year was subject to arbitration.
Recently, the arbitrator awarded an additional 2.75 percent increase for the third year, in addition to the one percent raises stipulated in the previous contract under Bill 124. Consequently, teachers will receive a total increase of 7.25 percent for the 2019-2022 contract term.
Bill 124 had restricted salary increases for public sector employees to one percent annually for a three-year period. Rod McGee, custodian and president of CUPE’s Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBBU), criticized the government’s intervention in collective bargaining and the suppression of wages for education workers. McGee emphasized that the additional compensation, secured through resistance against Bill 124, is a rightful acknowledgment of the dedication and essential contributions of frontline education workers.
Karen Littlewood, President of OSSTF/FEESO, echoed similar sentiments, stating that the decision reaffirms the longstanding undervaluation and underpayment of education workers. Littlewood attributed this disparity to years of underfunding in public education by the Progressive Conservatives, underscoring the need for fair compensation and recognition of workers’ contributions to Ontario’s educational system.
