The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has reached a tentative central agreement for its 80,000 teacher and occasional teacher members with the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Ontario government.
“After 14 months of central bargaining, we’re pleased to be able to bring forward a tentative agreement to our teacher and occasional teacher members that protects their collective agreement entitlements and also addresses key bargaining goals,” says ETFO President Karen Brown in a statement. “This has been the longest round of central bargaining in ETFO’s history, but we persisted. We remained focused on getting government cuts off the table and on addressing members’ working conditions, which are students’ learning conditions.”
Details of the agreement are expected to be released Thursday.
Ontario minister of education Stephen Lecce took to social media to call the agreement a win, calling on Catholic and French elementary unions to reach a deal as well.
“This is a major win for over 950,000 elementary students,” Lecce wrote. “These kids will benefit from stability and peace over the next three years as we go back to basics. To the Catholic and French teacher unions, end the delay. Let’s get this done.”