After months of acrimonious showdown between Ontario’s Conservative government and the province’s teachers--marked by demonstrations, strikes and work-to-rule campaigns--one side has finally blinked.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce says the province is ready to lower average high school classes to 23 students, a major bone of contention.
That’s just above its current level of 22 and it is well below the 28 the government initially put on the table last year.
The government also folded on another major disagreement: e-learning courses.
The government has long said the courses are mandatory if a student wants to graduate.
Lecce told a news conference Tuesday that while the government will continue to develop a new online learning system, an opt-out will be be added.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, two of four unions with whom the government is negotiating, said Lecce’s news conference was the first time they had heard of the proposals.
Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Federation president Harvey Bichof called Lecce’s news conference “an amateur stunt.”.
“We were still in active discussions and this minister chose to roll a hand grenade out on the table,” Bichof said.
“I would like to see him bring proposals to the bargaining table.”
Lecce said the government was not changing its offer to increase wages and benefits by one per cent a year.
Teachers want wages and benefits that at least equal the rate of inflation,
He also said he wants concessions on a regulation dictating seniority-based hiring.
Wtih files from CP, CBC, RCI
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