THUNDER BAY – Ontario’s public high school teachers have reached a tentative deal with the province.
The Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers Federation announced earlier Thursday morning a tentative deal had been reached with the provincial government and the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, which would end what turned into a bitter battle with Premier Kathleen Wynne and her Liberal government.
OSSTF District 6A president Paul Caccamo, who represents Thunder Bay members, did not provide specific details about the tentative agreement but said it was a relief to have a negotiated agreement for the first time since 2008.
“We were negotiating in a net-zero environment as described by the premier and it certainly put a lot of strain on the negotiating table,” Caccamo said when reached late in the afternoon.
“I think under ideal conditions it would be disingenuous to suggest we had hoped the province would have been prepared to invest more in the education file because it’s been sometime since they’ve been in a position to invest in contracts for education workers but it is what it is and we understood that going in. We said going in we weren’t looking for something that was unreasonable from the government and we believe we’ve reached a deal we can recommend for ratification on the part of members.”
The next step is to present the agreement to all of the presidents, chief negotiators and bargaining units across the province, who will decide whether or not to recommend ratification of the contract before it is presented to the 60,000 teachers, occasional teachers and support staff who comprise the union’s membership.
Caccamo is optimistic local bargaining table negotiations with the Lakehead District School Board will fall in line if the central agreement is ratified.
“We share an interest in moving things through to completion at the earliest possible juncture,” Caccamo said. “I think there’s a shared commitment to get this done and move on with a school year that isn’t mired by a cloud that certainly has existed for a number of months.”
Lakehead District School Board director of education Ian MacRae welcomed news of the tentative agreement.
“It’s certainly a great start. We’re not clear on the details as of yet but we assume it will be the first step of culminating a long process of bargaining we’ve undertaken over the last year and a half with the OSSTF,” he said.
“We look forward to a normal start to the school year.”
If the agreement is approved, it would conclude a tumultuous round of negotiations that saw high school teachers at public boards in Durham, Peel and Sudbury on strike earlier this year before being legislated back to work by Education Minister Liz Sandals, drawing the ire of teachers from across the province.
In Thunder Bay, OSSTF District 6A filed notice for conciliation against the Lakehead District School Board in March, which would have been an early step towards being in legal strike position but teachers at Hammarskjold High School, Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute remained on the job throughout the school year.
Across the province, OSSTF members had been in a legal strike position since July. The union had warned extracurricular activities for students could be affected for the upcoming school year if a deal had not been reached.
Other teachers’ unions in Ontario, such as public elementary and Catholic, are still in negotiations with the province.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario on Thursday announced they would be implementing the second phase of a work-to-rule campaign, beginning on the first day of the school year.
The enhanced measures include refusing to supervise field trips, collect money from students, respond to after-hours electronic communication from principals and vice-principals and participate in any after-hours meet the teacher or open house nights.
The previous contracts for all Ontario teachers expired on Aug. 31, 2014.
