Ontario's English Catholic teachers ratify 2-year contract extension
Members voted 87% in favour of extension, giving them 4% in raises
Ontario's English Catholic teachers have ratified an agreement to extend their contracts past the next provincial election.
Members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association voted 87 per cent in favour of the two-year extension, which gives them four per cent in raises and gives the Liberal government labour peace ahead of the June 2018 vote.
Teachers' and education workers' contracts were set to expire this August, and OECTA becomes the third major education union to ratify extensions to August 2019.
Ontario's French teachers and education workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees have also voted in favour of their similar deals.
Elementary teachers, high school teachers and other support staff have all reached tentative deals with the government, but have not yet ratified them.
The last round of negotiations with the education unions saw support staff and elementary teachers staging work-to-rule campaigns and the government threatening to dock their pay.
The extensions are all contingent on amendments to the bargaining legislation, which are expected to pass soon.
Details of various contracts either made public or leaked include
four per cent in raises over the two years as well as a 0.5-per-cent
lump sum payment.
Their benefits are also set to rise by four per cent each year of
the deal.
CUPE's deal also included a commitment from the government to
invest $115 million over the two years in special education and
hiring office, clerical, technical and custodial workers.
The tentative deal for the Elementary Teachers' Federation of
Ontario included a commitment from the government to invest $89
million over the two years for school boards to hire special
education teachers and for occasional teachers' professional
development, early years special education support, and support for
indigenous students, at-risk students and English-language learners.
ETFO's deal also includes an agreement from the government to cap
full-day kindergarten classes at 30 students next year and 29 the
year after. Currently, each school board must have an average
full-day kindergarten class size of 26, but there is no cap.