In a major development, the members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) have voted in favour of a proposal which aims at resolving negotiations with the Ontario government.
This proposal involves integrating binding interest arbitration into the process.
While reacting to the development, Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, said: “I am very pleased that the members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation have voted in favour of this deal that keeps kids in class.
“We came together to put 400,000 English public high school students first, and as a result, a student who started high school last year will now graduate in three years without the threat of strikes.”
The proposal was adopted after garnering 78.4 percent support from OSSTF members.
The President of OSSTF/FEESO, Karen Littlewood, said: “We are proud to announce that after a three-week long vote, open to all Members in the school board sector, OSSTF/FEESO members have voted to approve a proposal that will put all unresolved items before an independent, third-party arbitrator.”
By implication, local bargaining across Ontario will continue until March 28, 2024. The proposal stipulates that during this round of negotiations between the government and OSSTF/FEESO, there will be no strikes or lockouts.
Instead, any unresolved issues from central and local bargaining discussions will be subject to arbitration.
While speaking further, Littlewood said: “Premier Ford can’t be trusted.”
“For over 14 months, we have tried to engage the Ford government in good faith bargaining but we haven’t had a partner at the table that cares about safeguarding our public education system.
“Now we have the opportunity to bypass traditional bargaining pathways to secure a fair collective agreement.”
SUPPORT NIGERIAN CANADIAN NEWSPAPER CANADA
If you like our work and want to keep enjoying what we offer, kindly support us by donating to the Nigerian Canadian News by clicking here
Share your thoughts in the comments section below
Do you want to share any news or information with us? If yes, contact the publisher at publisher@test1.nascitest.club
