The province’s public elementary and secondary teachers are the only education unions left without a contract extension now that a tentative contract deal has been reached with support staff.
Catholic and French teacher unions have previously hammered out two-year extensions to their collective agreements, which include wage increases, as have school staff represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and the Educational Workers’ Alliance of Ontario.
The latest deal was reached with the Ontario Council of Education Workers.
The agreements extend current contracts — which expire later this year — to 2019, well after the next provincial election.
The government has worked to reach these deals to keep peace in the education sector, which has been rocked by unrest in previous rounds of collective bargaining.
“Our goal with respect to any collective agreement is an agreement that promotes stability in the sector, is consistent with our fiscal plan, and achieves positive results for students and for those who work in the education system,” said Education Minister Mitzie Hunter.
“The recent round of discussions with the Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW) were extremely collaborative and productive, and has resulted in a tentative agreement to extend their current contract by two years.”
All agreements still need to be ratified.
Hunter told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday that talks with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario are ongoing, and that she’s hoping to arrange future bargaining dates with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
Meanwhile, five Ontario union locals have yet to reach deals from the last round of bargaining. They are: Thunder Bay Catholic elementary and occasional teachers, Niagara Catholic elementary and occasional teachers, and CUPE education workers in Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien.
In Thunder Bay, Catholic teachers are in a legal strike position, and the board has said it will lock them out if they hit the picket lines.
In the Eastern Ontario board, staff have given notice that they could strike as of Sunday.
Hunter has urged both sides to come to an agreement.
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