Deal In Principle Reached With Elementary Teachers

The provincial government has a tentative deal with the union representing elementary teachers.
Officials say the agreement is similar to the one signed in April with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’s Federation.
The contract would provide employees with 11-sick days at 100% pay, with an additional 120-days at 90% pay.
It also provides 100% pay for eight weeks of maternity leave.
However, there’s no confirmation the teachers will see their pay frozen for two years as the government was hoping, in order to help eliminate the deficit.
A government release says the elementary teachers will also get an enhanced retirement gratuity payout similar to one given to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
The deal also includes a clause to eliminate the pay difference between English public elementary teachers and their counterparts in the Catholic and French public schools.
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario members have until June 23rd to ratify the agreement in principle.
A period of local bargaining would begin immediately after.