Ontario strikes deals with French-language, elementary teachers' unions

Ontariohas reached tentative contract agreements with the unions representing the province's 12,000 French-language
teachers and 83,000 elementary teachers.

The government and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) announced their tentative deallate Tuesday afternoon.

The union said details of the agreement will remain confidential until it is ratified, and a date has not yet been set for a vote by members.

The agreement is the third reached between the government and the province's major teachers' unions in recent weeks after months ofcontentious negotiations. Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement that the government is committed to providing stability for students andstaff "during this unprecedented time."

AEFOpresident Remi Sabourin praised both his members and parents in a statement of his own.

"Their encouragement and solidarity supported our efforts throughout a particularly laborious round of negotiations,"
Sabourin said.

'Binding' commitment on full-day kindergarten

Meanwhile,Ontario's elementary teachers have agreed to salary increases of one per cent a year for three years, but will get higher benefit increases than the government originally sought,according to a memo obtained by The Canadian Press.

The government had previously said it would not budge beyond anoffer to increase both wages and benefits by one per cent per year, but ETFO secured four per cent annual increases to benefits.

Lecce had also wanted concessions on a regulation that dictatesseniority-based hiring, and while the agreement doesn't come withany such concessions, it also doesn't come with guarantees that thegovernment can't make changes to the regulation.

The agreement also contains a two-year, $89-million "Support forStudents" fund, which ETFO says will create about 434 teacher positions, to address areas such as special education, Englishlanguage learning and mental-health initiatives.

The government has also made a "binding, enforceable"commitment in writing to maintain the current full-day kindergarten structure, with one teacher and one early childhood educator.

Ontariocommitted to maintain current class sizes, which means an increase of one student in average class sizes for Grades 4-8 that the government imposed last year won't be rolled back.

ETFO members to vote April 23-27

ETFO members are set to vote on ratification April 23-27.

Earlier this month, theOntarioEnglish Catholic Teachers'Association reached a tentative deal with the government and isholding ratification votes April 7 and 8.

The deal also agrees to average high school class sizes of 23 up from 22 last year. The government came out with that offershortly before the deal was reached. It's down significantly from the government's original target of 28.

The OECTA deal also includes opt-out provisions for e-learning courses.

It also includes language on the seniority hiring regulation thatis different from ETFO's deal. It says that 65 per cent of permanentpositions will now be filled with one of the three "most senior andqualified applicants." The other 35 per cent of positions can be filled using criteria other than seniority.

TheOntarioSecondary School Teachers' Federation has not resumedformal bargaining with the government since December.

OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said that union has been focusedon responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks and nottalks.

"We've all been very focused on trying to do the best we canunder these current circumstances ... for us, right now, that's been a higher priority because we're in the midst of unprecedented circumstances."