(Toronto) Public elementary school teachers in Ontario have ratified an agreement with the provincial government.
Posted at 1:47 p.m.
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) says its members voted 90 per cent in favor of the agreement, which will run for four years, from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2026.
To take effect, the agreement must also be ratified by the Ontario Public School Boards Association. A vote is scheduled for next week.
Under the agreement, compensation for the union's 80,000 substitute teachers will be subject to arbitration, as will the issue of retroactive pay increases.
According to ETFO, the agreement provides a solution to two of the three years of wage restrictions under a law called Bill 124, with the solution for the third year to be decided in arbitration.
ETFO President Karen Brown said that while negotiations had been “extraordinarily lengthy and difficult,” the agreement was proof that the process works when it gets going.
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement he was pleased to see the agreement ratified, “which ensures 950,000 children will benefit from three years of stable schooling.”
The agreement came after more than a year of negotiations.