“We appreciate the government’s efforts and those of the Catholic school trustees in reaching this tentative agreement”, states Ann Hawkins, the union’s president, in a news release.

“The tentative agreement is the result of hard work and the willingness of all parties to resolve difficult issues prior to the start of the school year”.

Although details of the agreement remain held in confidence until the deal is ratified, it has at least postponed the potential job action OECTA had been in a position to take since August 17.

Work-to-rule has already started at one school in northern part of the province, Bishop Belleau in Moosonee, which has since been suspended.

That federation covers the public elementary teachers across the province. To date, OECTA has obtained over 10,000 supporters on its teachersmatter.ca website.

Wynne is hoping to cut similar deals with the other unions as the province is set to resume negotiations with the Catholic teachers and The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, in the weeks ahead. OECTA cares deeply about the quality of education in our province, and we advocate for the professional and contractual welfare of our members to make sure they can focus on what they do best: teach.

Sandals said the government is committed to making a deal with ETFO before the school year begins.

Ontario’s 130,000 teachers have been without contracts for more than a year, and all four unions – even those with tentative agreements – must still negotiate local contracts with their local boards.

The news was confirmed Tuesday by both Education Minister Liz Sandals and the OECTA.

Sandals said the government did not cave in to teachers’ demands, and insisted the Liberals never asked school boards to raise the limit on class sizes.

CUPE says there have been too few bargaining days for the educational assistants, administrators, custodians, trades people, library technicians, early childhood educators, IT specialists and speech pathologists that it represents.