TORONTO, ON – L’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO), Ontario School Board Council of Unions (CUPE-OSBCU), Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), and Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) presidents issued the following statement: 

“Despite Minister of Education Paul Calandra’s many assurances that we would have collective agreements in place before Labour Day, teachers and education workers across Ontario will be welcoming students back next week without new contracts. 

In March, we urged the government to allow bargaining to begin early. Instead of engaging in negotiations in early spring and showing a real commitment to stability and improving student success and well-being, Minister Calandra dismissed our call and confidently announced he was ‘optimistic’ deals could be reached before Labour Day. He was wrong. His repeated misplaced optimism makes painfully clear just how out of touch he is with the state of Ontario’s publicly funded education system and the complexity of the bargaining process.