After months of negotiations followed by strike action, the Rainy River District School Board and local secondary occasional teachers reached a tentative four-year agreement on Monday morning.
Members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation District 5B Occasional Teachers’ Bargaining Unit will vote on ratification this week—in Fort Frances on Wednesday, in Atikokan on Thursday, and in Rainy River on Friday.
Should the teachers ratify the agreement, it then will be up to the board to ratify, likely at its next meeting scheduled for June 13.
Until then, no details of the agreement are being released.
“The negotiations were very cordial. Talks went very smoothly,” Andrew Hallikas, chief negotiator for the District 5B OTBU, said of Monday’s meeting.
“I think I can safely say both sides are pretty pleased,” he added.
The local secondary occasional teachers, of which there are 40-50, have been on strike since April 18—a rare instance of occasional teachers striking in Ontario.
Only the union’s three long-term occasional teachers, who cover maternity leaves and similar long-term absences, have continued to work during the strike.
The two sides last met April 7 but were unable to reach a deal.
The teachers have been fighting to have their rate of pay tied to the salary grid for regular teachers.
The board, on the other hand, said it wanted to retain the right to negotiate an entire contract rather than having certain portions signed off to other unions.
The Lakehead and Superior-Greenstone boards in Northwestern Ontario already have agreed to tie their secondary occasional teachers’ salaries to the grid.
Local secondary occasional teachers have been working without a contract since August, 2004 and have been in a legal strike position since December.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
