TORONTO — The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario is applying for conciliation in contract bargaining with the provincial government.
In an announcement Tuesday, ETFO President Karen Brown cited the slow pace of the talks as the reason for taking the step.
"Over the past year, ETFO's central bargaining team has attempted to resolve key issues to secure a fair deal for its teacher, occasional teacher and education worker members. But after a full year of bargaining without sufficient progress and negotiations at a standstill, the Federation if filing for conciliation. Our members have been incredibly patient, but their patience has run out."
The announcement comes four days after it was learned that the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation and the government had agreed to continue their negotiations until Oct. 27 without the threat of a strike vote, after which outstanding issues will be subjected to binding interest arbitration.
The government invited other teachers' unions to enter into similar agreements.
ETFO said that at this point it doesn't think this is a viable option.
"Given some of the issues the Federation would like addressed during bargaining, including violence in schools, the crisis in the recruitment and retention of educators, the hybrid learning model, the early reading screener, and special education supports for our most vulnerable elementary students."
Brown described binding arbitration as "rolling the dice" with hard-won rights and entitlements, and something that could also impact local bargaining with individual school boards where many workload and professional issues need to be addressed.
She stated that the government is currently demanding cuts in the areas of sick leave, benefits and professional judgment, and said binding arbitration would mean that an arbitrator would be "100 per cent in control" over what happens to those items.
