TORONTO -- The governing Liberals have taken their first step towards labour peace with Ontario teachers ahead of the new school year.
A new labour deal has been reached with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, Education Minister Laurel Broten said Thursday.
It's the first teachers' group to break ranks with other unions, which have refused to negotiate after they were told their wages would be frozen in the government's efforts to slay a $15-billion deficit.
The union representing 45,000 teachers agreed to a two-year wage freeze and three unpaid "professional development days" in the second year of the contract, which Broten said would amount to a 1.5-per-cent pay cut.
The province has also agreed that the wage freeze and three unpaid days also will apply to principals and vice-principals.
Union president Kevin O'Dwyer said the savings will ensure that beginner teachers don't bear the brunt of austerity.
"We have reached an agreement that is fair and reasonable, that acknowledges the fiscal challenges that are facing this province, and ensures that everyone -- from the director of education down to the first-year teacher -- shares in these fiscal restraints," he said.
Under the agreement, teachers will no longer be allowed to bank sick days and their allotment of 20 sick days a year will be cut to 10, Broten said.
There are 10 PD days a year and teachers are obliged to show up for work, said O'Dwyer. However, the province agreed to let teachers take the unpaid days off.
It's not yet clear what impact the new agreement -- which O'Dwyer said was finalized early Thursday -- may have on negotiations with the other unions.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, the most vocal opponent of the province's wage freeze demands, wouldn't comment Thursday. But the union, which represents 76,000 education workers, is planning a joint news conference Friday with three other unions representing teachers and other education workers.
O'Dwyer said OECTA isn't pulling out the carpet from under the feet of the other unions. They all had an opportunity to negotiate and do what they had to do.
"Some left early in the process, some left later in the process," he said.
"But frankly, I'm going to respect that they did what they felt was best for their members. We did the same thing."
Broten said the deal will serve as a "road map" for bargaining with all of the other unions; a "direct path" to preserve their educational priorities while meeting their fiscal targets.
"Many people thought that this day would never come, that we would never agree, that we were too far apart," she said. "But this agreement demonstrates the value of partnership."
The Liberals are trying to broker similar deals to meet their goal of saving $250 million in 2013, plus one-time savings of $1.4 billion. And they've threatened to legislate a wage freeze if all other options fail.
