Teachers still looking for local deal in Ottawa

The union representing Ontario’s 60,000 public high school teachers has reached a tentative three-year deal on provincial issues, but says job actions in Ottawa and Halton will continue until local agreements are reached.

But the good news for high schools came the same day the province’s elementary teachers stepped up their job action, withdrawing more services while stopping short of a full ban on extracurricular activities.

Thursday’s developments ended nearly three months of near-silence on Ontario’s teacher talks. It began when the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation announced it had reached the tentative deal on central issues after bargaining until 3 a.m. with the province and the Ontario Public School Board’s Association. The deal must be approved by the OSSTF leadership, which began three days of meetings in Ottawa Thursday, before it is put to a ratification vote by teachers.

“We still don’t have a local deal in Ottawa,” said OSSTF president Paul Elliott. “That local job action will continue until we get those local deals.”

But the provincial agreement was “good news” that should make those negotiations easier, he said.

“I think it bodes well because one of the things we heard over and over again from school boards — even though we don’t agree with it — is that they can’t negotiate their local (deal) until they know what the central one contains,” Elliott said. “Now the central one is done and that issue is gone. The local boards should be coming to the table and working through their deals fairly quickly.”

Ottawa public high school teachers began a partial withdrawal of services in May, including boycotting meetings, refusing to answer emails outside office hours and refusing to add comments to report cards.

Jennifer Adams, director of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, called the tentative deal an “excellent step forward” in a statement.

In his “state of the union” address, Elliott said it took 29 days of bargaining with three mediators over the course of more than a year to reach Thursday’s tentative deal. Three boards — Peel, Huron and Rainbow in Sudbury — endured weeks-long strikes during that time, strikes that were eventually ended by back-to-work legislation.

Elliott also took a shot at Conservative Leader Stephen Harper in his speech, urging members that “we can no longer ignore the Harper government’s attack on unions, working people and the social fabric of Canada.”

Speaking to reporters afterward, Elliott said that choosing sides in federal politics was something new for the federation, citing Bill C-377 of an example affecting labour unions.

“It is completely new territory. We’re hearing from our own members that even though we’re a provincial federation, what happens nationally is really having an effect on us and our members.”

Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday she was encouraged by the OSSTF tentative deal because it proves that negotiations work.

“What we said could happen at the table has happened,” said Wynne. “Of course, we have some other groups that we are now in conversation with, but this is a very significant and happy day in terms of getting our kids back to school.”