In December 2023, teacher and occasional teacher (OT) members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) ratified a central agreement that included the referral of compensation (salary and daily OT rate) to binding arbitration; the hearing was held on April 17. Today, the Arbitration Board, chaired by William Kaplan, issued its decision.
The Arbitration Board awarded ETFO’s 80,000 teacher and OT members salary increases of 11.25 per cent over the term of the 2022-2026 collective agreement—an 11.73 per cent increase when compounded over the four years. This represents increases of three per cent for 2022-23, three per cent for 2023-24, 2.75 per cent for 2024-25, and 2.5 per cent for 2025-26. The compensation award applies to salary grids, wage schedules, applicable premiums and allowances, and the daily OT rate, and represents the highest increase over the term of an agreement in over a decade.