TORONTO, ON – The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) has reached a tentative central agreement for its 80,000 teacher and occasional teacher members with the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Ontario government. 

“After 14 months of central bargaining, we’re pleased to be able to bring forward a tentative agreement to our teacher and occasional teacher members that protects their collective agreement entitlements and also addresses key bargaining goals,” says ETFO President Karen Brown. “This has been the longest round of central bargaining in ETFO’s history, but we persisted. We remained focused on getting government cuts off the table and on addressing members’ working conditions, which are students’ learning conditions.”

Details of the agreement will be shared with ETFO teacher and occasional teacher members on Thursday, November 23, after a meeting with their local presidents and chief negotiators. A ratification vote is being scheduled; details of the vote will be shared with members once they are confirmed. 

“With the assistance of the conciliator appointed by the Minister of Labour, ETFO was able to reach a tentative agreement that, we believe, meets the needs of our teacher and occasional teacher members. We’re pleased with the improvements that we were able to secure during negotiations,” adds Brown.

ETFO represents approximately 80,000 public elementary teachers and occasional teachers, and 3,500 designated early childhood educators, education support personnel, and professional support personnel. Information about ETFO collective bargaining is available at etfocb.ca.