OSSTF/FEESO Congratulates Liberals on Their Victory

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 13, 2014) - The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) is expressing guarded optimism in the wake of the Liberal victory in yesterday's Ontario provincial election.

"Ontario voters have clearly rejected Tim Hudak's confrontational stance toward unions, public sector workers in general, and education workers in particular," said OSSTF/FEESO President Paul Elliott. "With this in mind, I'd like to congratulate Premier Kathleen Wynne on winning another term in office. We are hopeful that a new mandate for the Liberal government will usher in a renewed commitment away from an austerity agenda and towards investment in Ontario's public education system."

"We have a new bargaining process ahead of us," continued Elliott, referring to the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act which was passed in the spring. Under that Act, a number of major contract items must be the subject of centralized provincial bargaining, while other items will be negotiated between school boards and teachers or support staff at the local level.

Elliott concluded, "We are eager to get this new process underway and we are hoping for fair and respectful discussions when we get to the bargaining table."

OSSTF/FEESO, founded in 1919, has 60,000 members across Ontario. They include public high school teachers, occasional teachers, educational assistants, continuing education teachers and instructors, early childhood educators, psychologists, secretaries, speech-language pathologists, social workers, plant support personnel, university support staff, and many others in education.