Peel school board settles its final education contract
Across Ontario, 13 local deals still to be worked out, including two in the GTA
The Peel board has now wrapped up bargaining with all its teacher and staff unions after reaching a deal with adult instructors, leaving just two education contracts in Greater Toronto to be settled.
The Durham District School Board continues to negotiate with CUPE, which represents its continuing education instructors, and the York Region public board is working on a first contract with its speech pathologists, members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
The OSSTF, however, announced Thursday that it has settlements with all other boards, following a tentative deal reached in Rainy River with occasional high school teachers.
In 2015, OSSTF teachers went out on strike in three boards — job action that was later ruled unlawful. Earlier this year, high school teachers in Rainy River walked off the job one day each week to protest the prolonged talks.
“All in all, we finally now have all of our deals done under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act,” said OSSTF president Paul Elliott, who did not include the York deal because it’s a first and will naturally take longer.
In Peel, chair Janet McDougald welcomed news of its final settlement, with adult English-as-a-second-language instructors who are part of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union.
Peel was one of the three boards hit by the OSSTF high-school teacher strike last year.
“By focusing on what’s best for students and relying upon our positive, respectful relationships with our unions and federations, we have reached local settlements with all Peel District School Board employee groups,” McDougald said via email. “We appreciate the work of our negotiating team in helping us achieve these agreements that support our unwavering commitment to the success of all students.”
Across Ontario, some 13 local contracts are still outstanding under the province’s new two-tier bargaining system, which Education Minister Mitzie Hunter has said will undergo some “minor” changes before negotiations begin again next year.
The contracts took so long to negotiate, they expire next August. The government and unions, however, have discussed extending them for a year, which would mean labour peace until after the next provincial election.
This round of bargaining — which saw costly items such as salaries sorted out provincially, leaving union locals and individual boards to agree on more administrative items such as performance appraisals — came under review after complaints about the length of time it took, among other concerns.
Meanwhile, support workers in the Windsor-Essex Catholic board recently voted in favour of a strike, which could happen as early as Monday. Represented by Unifor, the local represents office and secretarial staff and technicians, as well as custodial/ maintenance workers.