One deal down

Despite last spring’s strikes, work-to-rule campaigns and threats, Ontario’s two million school-age kids can at last see a ray of hope that they will be back in classes in two weeks’ time — with their teachers happily onside.

That’s because the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation announced on Thursday it had reached a tentative contract deal with the province.

The agreement still must be approved by teachers. But it shows that deals are possible with intense bargaining and good faith on both sides, despite all the fiery rhetoric that has surrounded labour relations between teachers’ unions and the Wynne government.

It’s now high time for the government and the other major unions — the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association — to hammer out settlements, too.

There are no excuses for delay. The unions and the province spent most of the summer away from the bargaining table as the clock ticked towards the start of the school year.

The secondary school teachers’ union didn’t even reopen negotiations until August, after ending talks in May — despite the spring strikes at high schools in Durham, Peel and the Sudbury region that created mayhem for students and parents.

Still, it should be congratulated for negotiating round-the-clock with the province to finally reach a deal that should save the beginning of the school year. It’s important not just for secondary students, but could set a pattern for all elementary, Catholic and French school pupils, whose unions are still at the negotiating tables.

A positive outcome depends in part on getting past the tiresome rhetoric and posturing. Last week, before the deal with the high school teachers, Sam Hammond, president of the elementary teachers’ federation, appeared determined to keep that up, telling the province and school boards they were “in for the fight of their lives.”

And the Catholic teachers union had planned an extensive work-to-rule campaign in which teachers would enter school together just 15 minutes before the bell and refuse to perform any tasks beyond classroom teaching.

The tentative deal with the secondary school teachers’ federation shows there’s no need for those outmoded tactics. There’s still plenty of time to settle these disputes honorably and fairly — and let Ontario’s students enjoy an uninterrupted year of learning.

It’s now high time for the government and the other major unions to reach agreements