Teachers in Ontario’s public elementary schools are set to start voting today on whether they want to give their union a strike mandate. Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) headquarters is seen in Toronto, Monday, March 9, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Ontario has reached a tentative agreement with the 3,500 education workers represented by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
In a news release issued Friday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the deal and said it will help keep kids in class.
“We are taking an important step towards delivering on this priority by announcing another tentative central agreement with the ETFO Education Workers, helping to bring stability to families and elementary students in Ontario,” Lecce said.
null
An agreement has not yet been reached for ETFO’s 80,000 teacher and occasional teacher members.
“This tentative agreement acknowledges the significance of education workers in our schools and values the daily contributions they make to enhance students’ educational experience,” Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) President Cathy Abraham said in a release following the announcement.
The OPSBA says ETFO education workers are represented in a dozen of its member boards and one school authority, including Durham DSB, Halton DSB, and Hamilton-Wentworth DSB.
“After a prolonged and difficult bargaining process, we are pleased to be able to bring forward a tentative central agreement to our education worker members that addresses their key bargaining goals,” ETFO President Karen Brown said in a release.
“As we have been reminding the Ford government all along, tentative agreements are possible when all parties are genuinely engaged and when you give the legal bargaining process a chance.”
ETFO has rejected a proposal tentatively agreed to by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) in late August that would see binding arbitration to avoid any chance of a strike.
ETFO is holding votes for its members until Oct. 17 to obtain a strike mandate in negotiations. Brown said if they do obtain a strike mandate, it doesn’t necessarily mean walkouts will happen.
“A strong strike vote result will help ETFO communicate to the Ford government that they must get serious about bargaining,” Brown said in a written statement.
The union said Friday details of the agreement will be shared with its education worker members following a meeting with their local president and chief negotiators, adding a ratification vote is currently being scheduled.
With files from Katherine DeClerq and The Canadian Press
