Ontario government reaches new deal with province’s Catholic teachers

TORONTO, Ont. – The Ontario government has reached what it calls a “memorandum of understanding” with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association that, if approved, will ensure the teachers are in their classrooms when school resumes in the fall.

Education Minister Laurel Broten said the union, which represents 45,000 teachers, has agreed to a two-year deal with no salary increase in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.

The deal also contains a restructured short-term sick leave plan that would reduce the number of sick days from 20 to up to 10 and eliminates three paid professional development days, which amounts to a 1.5 per cent pay cut. Also, teachers will no longer be able to bank sick days.

“I’ve always believed that by working together we could find a pathway forward. The MOU that I signed this morning indicates clearly that there is a pathway forward,”  Laurel Broten said. “We invite them to engage in local conversations and to meet with us at the provincial table to find that pathway for them and their members and their students.”

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association is the first teachers group to break ranks with the other unions, who have refused to negotiate after they were told their wages would be frozen.

Broten hopes other teachers unions will follow suit.

“This agreement is a powerful example of what we can accomplish when we come together,” she said. “Teachers and government can enter into discussions that result in solutions that both protect student achievement and help us meet our fiscal targets.”

Union president Kevin O’Dwyer doesn’t see this as pulling the carpet from under the other unions who have been cold to the wage freeze.

“We all had an opportunity beginning in February, each one of those affiliates made their decisions in the best interest of their members. Some left very early in the process, some left later in the process,” O’Dwyer said. “Frankly, I’m going to respect that they did what they felt was best for their members. We did the same thing.”

He said OECTA wanted to negotiate a deal, not have one imposed on it and its members understand the province’s tough financial situation.

He said what’s key here is that there is no loss to instructional time.

The deal covers 45,000 English Catholic teachers and while it has been approved by the union’s provincial executive it must still be ratified by local union members. Ratification votes will be held early next week.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has said his government will work as hard as it can to secure agreements before school starts in September.

The Liberals are trying to get workers in the broader public sector to accept a wage freeze as they battle a $15-billion deficit.

They’ve said they’ll legislate the freeze if all other options fail.

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