OSSTF members approve deal to avoid strike through binding arbitration

Ontario public high school teachers voted in favour of a deal with the province and their union that would see a strike avoided through the use of voluntary binding arbitration.

Ontario public high school teachers voted in favour of a deal with the province and their union that would see a strike avoided through the use of voluntary binding arbitration.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) met with the province late August and came to a bargaining agreement. As part of the negotiations, if no collective agreement could be reached by Oct. 27, a third party would be brought in to make the final decisions on unresolved issues.

Members, from education workers to teachers, had the chance to vote on the proposal from Sept. 7 up until Wednesday.

"I am very pleased that the Ontario School Teachers' Federation members have voted in favour of this deal that keeps kids in class," Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement following the announcement.

"We came together to put 400,000 English public high school students first, and as a result, a student who started high school last year will now graduate in three years without the threat of strikes."

The OSSTF adopted the proposal with just over 78 per cent of its members support. The approved proposal guarantees there will be no strikes or lockouts while at the bargaining table with the province during this round of negotiations, as anything that cannot be agreed upon will be sent to arbitration.

"We are proud to announce that after a three-week long vote, open to all Members in the school board sector, OSSTF/FEESO Members have voted to approve a proposal that will put all unresolved items before an independent, third-party arbitrator," OSSTF/FEESO President Karen Littlewood said in a release.