Ontario approves 2 deals with school boards
Posted November 20, 2012 3:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Two of five tentative deals between high school teachers and their school boards have been approved by the Ontario government, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced Tuesday.
McGuinty said he was hopeful his government’s approval of deals with the Upper Grand and York Region school boards will serve as a “template for other boards across the province.”
“I think it represents the fact that we can get this done,” he said.
The deals must still be ratified by teachers.
Tentative deals with Hamilton-Wentworth, Niagara and Thames Valley are still awaiting approval by the education ministry.
Teachers across the province have been protesting Bill 115, also called the Putting Students First Act, which imposed a two-year contract on educators that includes a wage freeze, reduced sick days and bans on strikes and lockouts.
Job action is taking place at 28 school boards across the province, with around 35,000 high school teachers and education workers limiting their services.
The boycotts include not filling in for absent teachers, not supervising students outside class, not attending staff meetings, not communicating with parents after hours, including responding to emails and parent-teacher interviews, among others.
Elementary teachers have been joining their high school colleagues, with York Region beginning job action Monday.
All 76,000 elementary school teachers in the province will likely be in a legal strike position before the Christmas break, according to the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
With files from Shawne McKeown and The Canadian Press
