Members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) have voted in favour of accepting central bargaining agreements reached with the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Council of Trustees’ Associations:

ETFO’s teacher and occasional teacher members voted 97% in favour of the 2019-2022 Teacher/Occasional Teacher Central Agreement; and
ETFO’s education worker members voted 94% in favour of the 2019-2022 Education Worker Central Agreement.

“Our goal was to defend public education and the working and learning conditions that have made Ontario’s education system one of the best in the world,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond. “Along with our members, we want to thank parents and other supporters for standing together to defend public education over this past year."

Ontario's Minister of Education Stephen Lecce said "our primary objective was to reach good deals with teachers' and education workers' unions, that will advance the priorities of students and parents."

Highlights of the ETFO central agreements include:

A Supports for Students Fund that preserves 100% of special education and priority funding negotiated in 2017;

The Kindergarten model, with its teacher/designated early childhood educator (DECE) team, is preserved for the life of the agreement;

Proposed government funding cuts of $150 million to public elementary spending were withdrawn;

Elementary class size language in local collective agreements is preserved and there will be no class size increases during the life of the agreement;

Professional development/learning funds for education workers are increased; and

Sustainable funding for member benefits will continue.

sourcees: media releases, ETFO, Ministry of Education