The Ontario Council of Educational Workers (OCEW) has signed a tentative agreement to extend its collective agreement beyond its current expiry date of August 31, 2017 to August 31, 2019.
The deal was reached through negotiations among the OCEW, The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, The Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association, The Council of Trustees' Associations, and the Crown.
Below are highlights of the OCEW tentative agreement. It is very similar to other recent settlements in the education sector. An electronic copy of the complete Memorandum of Settlement will be sent out to all members and the Settlements will be available on the OPSEU website.
Term
- Two year extension of the existing collective agreements that runs from September 1, 2017, to August 31, 2019.
Wages
- September 1, 2017: 1.5 per cent wage increase
- September 1, 2018: 1.0 per cent wage increase
- February 1, 2019: 1.0 per cent wage increase
- August 31, 2019: 0.5 per cent wage increase
September 1, 2017: 0.5 per cent lump sum on all wages earned in the 2016/17 school year, paid by November 1, 2017.
A “Me Too” clause on all aggregate wage percentages above, if another teacher table or educational workers’ table achieves a higher aggregate percentage.
Benefits
Once a Health Trust is established for the OCEW, benefits will move to an employee health trust. The parties agreed to a base amount of $5,075 per full-time equivalent (FTE) on September 1, 2017 with inflationary increases of 4 per cent on September 1, 2017 (increasing the FTE amount to $5,278) and another 4 per cent on September 1, 2018 (increasing the FTE amount to $5,489.12).
A “Me Too” clause on all aggregate wage percentages above, if another teacher table or educational workers’ table achieves a higher aggregate percentage.
An additional $700,000 in startup funds to improve the benefit plan.
Other items
Investment in system priorities:
- Special Education Staff Amount: $6,732,816 in system investment for OCEW members in 2017/18 to continue in 2018/19 and be utilized for special education needs in recognition of the role that educational assistants, child and youth workers/counsellors, and professional student services personnel play in supporting special education.
- Other Staffing Amount: $2,008,089 in system investment for OCEW members in 2017/18 and 2018/19 In recognition of the role that custodial, maintenance, skilled trades, office, clerical and technical employees play in promoting safe, healthy and caring schools.
Road show and ratification
Ratification votes will be held at the local level across the province between February 12 and March 4.
February 12 – OPSEU Local 663 – Moosonee District School Board
February 13 – Local 330 – Simcoe County District School Board
February 15 – Local 423 – Ottawa Catholic District School Board
February 16 (tentative) – Local 283 – Peel District School Board and Local 292 Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Boards (all locals)
February 21 – Local 514 – York District School Board
February 28 and March 1 – Local 614 – Rainbow District School Board
Members of the OPSEU bargaining team and OPSEU staff will be available at each vote location to conduct question-and-answer sessions. Please look for notices from your local telling you when and where your local will be holding its question-and-answer session and ratification vote.