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Ontario strikes tentative deal with English Catholic teachers’ union

Theglobeandmail.com
Aug. 25, 2015
By Adrian Morrow and Selena Ross

Ontario has bought labour peace with two of its teachers’ unions - offering raises and guaranteeing to keep class size caps in place - in a bid to head off potentially damaging strikes just before the school year gets underway.

Education Minister Liz Sandals announced Tuesday she had reached a tentative agreement with the province’s 34,000 English Catholic teachers just a few days after cutting a deal with English public high-school teachers.

After a year of negotiations, scattered strikes, back-to-work legislation and labour-board injunctions, the contracts suddenly materialized in a matter of days. They must still be ratified by teachers next month.

The province still faces possible job action from other education unions. But the deals with two unions could put added pressure on the others to settle.

They may also help Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government take a tough issue off the table as it fights to help elect its federal counterparts in October and faces battles on other fronts, including over its controversial plan to privatize Hydro One and introduce a new provincial pension system.

Ms. Wynne has taken on an unusually active role in the federal campaign for a sitting premier, frequently bashing Conservative Leader Stephen Harper for blocking Canada Pension Plan enhancement and accusing him of not providing enough funds for Ontario infrastructure, while encouraging Ontarians to support federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Ms. Wynne’s effectiveness as Mr. Trudeau’s surrogate would certainly be undermined, particularly on the left, if she found herself in a protracted fight with the province’s teachers - particularly a strike.

Some teachers, for their part, have also signalled their intention to join the federal campaign. Paul Elliott, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), told union members in an Ottawa speech last week that he intended to campaign against Mr. Harper, whom he accused of attempting to destroy unions.

Averting a job action this fall will give both Ms. Wynne and the teacher unions more time and political capital to devote to the federal election.

Defusing the teacher tension, however, comes at a price. An internal OSSTF memo, obtained by The Globe and Mail last week, indicated high school teachers stood to receive a 1.5-per-cent raise over two years, plus a 1-per-cent lump-sum payment. And Ms. Sandals suggested Tuesday the English Catholic teachers had also negotiated a pay hike.