Ontario public high school teachers reach deal with province

Ann Hawkins of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association won’t say if her union will accept a deal without a pay hike, but points out teachers already had their wages frozen for the previous two years.

A meeting of union local leaders is scheduled for some time this week.

The province has taken a hard line in contract talks.

All of the unions have been without a contract since August 31, 2014.

The union has been in a legal strike position since May 10.

If serious bargaining “doesn’t happen, then I say to the government and OPSBA, ‘you are in for the fight of your lives, ‘” Hammond said.

The public elementary teachers federation will return to the bargaining table on September 1st.

OSSTF members in Peel and Durham Region, as well as teachers in the Rainbow District in and around Sudbury went on strike this past spring, leaving more than 60,000 students without class instruction. They include public high school teachers, occasional teachers, educational assistants, continuing education teachers and instructors, early childhood educators, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists, social workers, plant support personnel, university support staff, and many others in education.