TORONTO – The union representing Ontario’s high school teachers is planning “informal talks” with the province next week to discuss a return to contract extension negotiations.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation is the only education union to have not yet agreed to extend their current deals to 2019 – past next year’s provincial election.
They had previously been in talks with the Liberal government, and now union president Paul Elliott says the two sides will discuss next week “if there’s enough common ground to get back to the bargaining table.”
READ MORE: Ontario to cap kindergarten classes, give teachers raises in tentative deal
Elliott says there are only a few outstanding issues.
Ontario’s French teachers and education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees have ratified their two-year contract extensions, with English Catholic teachers, elementary teachers and other support workers still to vote on their tentative deals.
Radio-Canada has reported that the French teachers’ deal will see them get four per cent in raises over the two years as well as a 0.5-per-cent lump sum payment. Those are the same compensation terms as in the CUPE deal as well as the English Catholic teachers’ and elementary teachers’ tentative agreements.
READ MORE: Ontario elementary teachers’ union agrees to 2-year contract extension
CUPE’s deal also included a commitment from the government to invest $115 million over the two years in special education and hiring office, clerical, technical and custodial workers.
The last round of negotiations with the education unions were contentious, with support staff and elementary teachers staging work-to-rule campaigns and the government threatening to dock their pay. Securing contract extensions past the June 2018 election would ensure the government doesn’t have to contend with such job action in the lead-up to the vote.