Rainbow board chair 'very happy' about tentative deal

The chair of the Rainbow District School Board said she and other trustees are “very happy” a tentative agreement has been reached with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF).

The union put out a brief statement Thursday morning, stating that the provincial-level tentative deal had been reached with the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Public School Boards' Association.

The deal now has to be approved by OSSTF local leaders and be presented to the union's members for ratification.

“We're hopeful that it's going to be ratified,” Dewar said. “The big part about it that really is gratifying is the fact that this has happened prior to the start of school.
“So what we're looking at is the fact that it will provide some stability, not just for our students, but for our staff.”

OSSTF had said its members would withdraw from extracurricular activities if a deal wasn't reached before the beginning of the school year.

Details of the tentative agreement will not be made public until after it's ratified, but the Toronto Star is reporting that sources say it will give high school teachers a small salary increase but not cost the province any additional money.

Reached Thursday morning, James Clyke, president of OSSTF District 3, which represents Rainbow board high school teachers, also said he's glad there's a tentative deal.

“It's good news for the stopping the disruption at the beginning of the school year, and that's where teachers want to be,” he said.

Although a provincial-level tentative deal has been reached, the OSSTF still has to reach local deals with individual school boards.

This past spring, OSSTF members in Sudbury and in two other jurisdictions went on strike for a month after failing to reach local deals.

Clyke said his local is under a process imposed by the government after the strikes where a contract will be worked out through arbitration.