ETFO suspends talks with province, education minister says

Ontario's education minister says negotiations have halted with the union representing elementary school teachers.

Liz Sandals says there has been some progress in talks, but the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has put negotiations on hold to look over some remaining issues.

She says the union didn't specify how long negotiations would be halted and adds she had been prepared to work through the long weekend.

Elementary teachers have been without a contract for more than a year, and on a work-to-rule campaign since May.

They launched the second phase of their campaign last month, at the beginning of the school year.

As part of the work-to-rule campaign, teachers are not participating in field trips or school fundraising, and are not collecting or distributing paperwork to students on behalf of their schools or school boards.

"We are calling on the ETFO to call off their job action while they undertake their consultation process," Sandals says in a written statement. "We hope that ETFO will recognize the urgency of the situation and we can continue discussions soon."

In a statement, ETFO says as far as it's concerned, talks are not halted.

The statement says it is waiting for the government and the association representing school boards to revise proposals that were put forward Friday.

"ETFO was prepared to bargain [Saturday] if OPSBA and the government could develop a revised proposal addressing our concerns. Although we waited all day, they were not able to do that," said EFTO president Sam Hammond.