A tentative agreement has been struck between Ontario’s public elementary teachers and the province, avoiding a strike. The agreement is expected to affect approximately 80,000 teachers and occasional teachers in the province, according to ETFO president Karen Brown.
The union ratified their contracts with the province in October, but Ontario secondary teachers are still in arbitration. On Tuesday morning, Ontario’s education minister confirmed the tentative agreement in a post on social media.
“After 14 months of negotiations, we are pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative central agreement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation,” Lecce wrote, adding that a ratification vote is scheduled for this week. “This agreement marks a significant step towards ensuring there are no further strikes or job actions across the province over the next three-year period.”
Lecce also said that certain issues will go into binding arbitration, but did not specify what those issues are.
Ontario’s Catholic and French-language teachers are still in negotiations with the Doug Ford government.
