Toronto: A “tentative” deal has been reached with one of the several teachers’ unions that the government of Ontario is negotiating with.
The tentative agreement is with the Educational Workers’ Alliance of Ontario (EWAO), which represents some 6,000 education staff.
However, the bigger unions like the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) representing about 78,000 elementary teachers, and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), which represents some 55,000 high school teachers, have been escalating strike action saying the government is holding out on mainly budget cuts and classroom sizes.
“Our government has delivered another tentative agreement with education workers that keeps students in class. This is yet another example of our government demonstrating a reasonableness and focus on our students at the bargaining table,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, in a statement.
“This tentative agreement, reached by all parties, delivers on our mandate to be reasonable, to focus on students, and to keep them in class where they belong. As shown with EWAO, and CUPE earlier, our government has remained a constructive force at the table working hard to ensure parents have the predictability they deserve,” he said.
“We will continue to negotiate in good faith with a sincere hope that the other education unions will match our reasonable offerings and make students the centre of our focus,” Lecce added.
ALSO READ: