Agreement for high school teachers

There’s word of a tentative agreement between secondary school teachers and the Ontario government over the weekend; but it may be a while before we learn the details.

The devil, they say, is in the details but there are very few details about this contract as of Monday afternoon. Education Minister Liz Sandals made the announcement late Sunday afternoon. She says the government’s $14 billion deficit was of paramount concern during negotiations, but the two sides did manage to come to terms on a number of items including sick leave, maternity leave, retirement gratuity, unpaid days, and local bargaining. Under the old agreement, teachers got 20 sick days a year, and maternity leave of up to 37 weeks. But no details of the new agreement are available, as the union must still take it to OSSTF members for ratification and a union blackout from both sides, is in effect. Union leadership will meet Thursday to discuss the deal and then bring it to teachers for a vote, although the date of that ratification is still not known.
If the teachers ratify the deal, details will then be released at some point down the road. The issue of extra-curricular activities is still somewhat cloudy. Although Union leadership urged the membership to resume normal activities when the pace of negotiations picked up, the decision has been left to individual district locals, and there was no formal mention of extra-curriculars, by either side.