Ontario government reaches tentative agreement with the province’s high school teachers

Priority as minister is to keep kids in class that is and should be the most important priority of any government I mean we you all know as many of you as parents you’ve seen the impacts of the pandemic you’ve seen the impacts of strikes you’ve seen the anxiety imposed

On families because of these what feels like the constant threat of a strike every year every six or 12 months there’s another discussion about some form of Education instability we are providing stability for families we’re getting a fair deal on the table a tentative agreement with osstf and if we

Can do this with the other units which I know we can and if they accept it in the coming days we could provide that certainty for moms and dads for Guardians and parents and for the kids themselves so let’s put kids first let’s put their interests first let’s get this

Agreement done the fact that we’re able to do so with OSS ossdf today in attentive manner still subject to the membership ratification but endorsed by the provincial and local leadership is a positive step forward I’d now I want to do this right across the board so that

We could enter the school year with a real sense of stability these kids need to focus on academics we need to get back to those basic foundational skills you’ve seen the EQAO data we’ve seen significant regression Reading Writing and math there’s no jurisdiction in the world that has not seen that progression

In Ontario our strategies premised on keeping them in class investing in Frontline academic success and emphasizing skills around Reading Writing and math and stem disciplines and if we do that I do believe we’re going to see kids lift improve standards and all comes for young people in Ontario arbitration

In the last round we were able to consent to agreements that were negotiated between the parties in my experience this is new uh appreciating I’ve been as ministers for five years um but I know in other sectors of the Civil Service and the broader Public Service it has been used there’s tons of

Pressing with across government again the priority of the government was to offer something that we believe is fair for all the parties so let’s continue to negotiate in good faith if we can’t agree on those specific terms we have a path to get to an agreement that is fair

That ultimately a third party will will decide upon an arbitrator so we use this in many many sectors of the economy many Ministries and I have full confidence that we could agree to a mutual third party all parties would agree to that person and we’d get this done I just

Think the number one priority for the government is providing some peace some stability some hope to young people who faced real challenges over the past years and I am confident that the plan we put in place will achieve that the Indian specialist also mentions that there’s an agreement to provide at Bill

124 remedy can you give us any details on what that might look like is that an admission that their wages were unfairly constrained for three years we obviously this is going to go through ratification and like the last time I did this when I was before the media four years ago

Three years ago I had to commit to maintaining the confidence of that process this is going to go before their members I have to respect that process they need to be able to ratify this independent of myself and other political actors so I will respect that process they’ve got a tentative deal

Before them of course following ratification all the details will be unveiled I could say it’s fair for all parties it keeps kids in school it provides stability for parents it allows the government to really focus in on academic Improvement on lifting standards and accountability within our

School board system it allows us to help these kids frankly get back on track so it’s it is progress it is a win-win-win and it keeps kids in school you’ve been bargaining with the teacher unions for 13 months and you’ve only now just come to arbitration so what’s been

Going on at the table have you actually agreed on anything you know we’ve had 170 meetings with our education Partners you know keeping in mind that the last round also took time and uh you know our priority as a government is just to get deals done I mean we believe you know

All right what Matt what should matter most to all the parties is making sure that these kids have some sense of Peace So I appreciate we’re going to continue to negotiating good faith we can have spirited discussions at the table uh but we brought forward this proposal we

Thought it was sensible because it was a recognition that there are some issues where we are a bit apart on and so we’re going to use the next month or two to negotiate see if we can Bridge those gaps see if we can get to an alignment

That we can both live with but if we can’t we now have a pathway to avoid a strike avoid disruption for children that is important that is positive that is what a responsible government would do I mean like just find a way out of a negotiation that just doesn’t seem like

On every issue there’s necessarily A pathway to success and so we’ve recognize that I think the unions recognize that the employer recognizes that and therefore we’ve come up with that all that that off-rant that allows us to avert a strike provide peace both provincially and locally and offer a

Fair process for all the parties and and I really think this is a positive step forward for families the last thing a child or a parent needs to deal with in the next little while as kids go back to school is the idea that they may be out of school

Um I think that’s really unfair so this is a positive outcome and I just want to reaffirm our commitment with the other unions calling them in on Monday meet with us over the coming days let’s present this offer let’s get this offer passed let’s present it to the members

Let’s get deals that keep kids in school that is our priority it’s the premier’s priority it’s my priority it’s patrice’s priority it’s literally the priority I think of every parent in Ontario for the parties to be the adults in the room come together put their kids first that’s exactly what we’ve done today

Some another issue if you don’t mind under the purview of your ministry television Ontario was on strike and this is a service that many ontarians rely on uh the money at least for broadcast Services has been reduced over the past few years what are you going to

Do of anything to help end the strike well uh first off you know the government is not involved on the bargaining between TV on the Kennedy media Guild and I appreciate that a TVO has issued a statement reaffirming their commitment to journalistic programming and noted that their commitment has

Grown dramatically over the past few years what I can simply say is we value the importance that TVO provides particularly when it comes to online learning and other educational programs and I hope that the parties can come together and get a deal I think it’s important for their members

It is a discussion point that Richard literally between the Canadian media Guild uh and the employer were not involved as the government myself as minister so I just obviously like you would like them to get a deal so we can also put this behind us and provide some

Stability I know many children benefit from TVO I grew up watching TVO um and I value what they do and I just look forward to the parties coming together as we’ve done today with OS stf uh and get a deal

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce speaks about the tentative agreement reached with the province’s high school teachers.

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