TORONTO -- The Ontario government has announced that it has reached a deal with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) after months of negotiations and rotating job strikes.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he was “pleased” with the tentative agreement that also includes educational support workers as well as the school boards trustees' association.
“This tentative ETFO agreement builds further momentum for deals and progress that students deserve, following last week’s tentative agreement signed with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA),” Lecce said in a news release issued on Friday.
Lecce added that the government is committed to maintaining class sizes and full-day kindergarten, investing in special education, and a "fair" increase in compensation.
The government had previously said it would not budge beyond an offer to increase wages and benefits by one per cent per year.
The major unions had asked for two per cent on salary and around six per cent on benefits -- and that it wanted concessions on a regulation that dictates seniority-based hiring.
Lecce says he is focused on landing the remaining deals.
ETFO issued a statement on the tentative agreement in which union President Sam Hammond said the negotiation process leading up to Friday's development was "very prolonged and difficult."
“We are very grateful for the support and unwavering solidarity of our members, and the public who have continued to stand up for public education and the supports that our students and educators need now and in the future.”
Hammond said that ETFO’s provincial executive has since endorsed the terms of the tentative central agreements and that the the decision to accept ultimately rests with ETFO’s 83,000 members.
"ETFO will review details of its tentative central agreements and ratification vote process with ETFO local leaders and members next week."
ETFO is the largest teachers' union in the province and is the second major one -- after Catholic teachers -- to reach a deal during a highly contentious round of bargaining.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and the union representing teachers in the French-language system remain without deals, though the latter has been in regular bargaining.
With files from the Canadian Press
