Thousands of public school elementary teachers will receive Bill 124 back pay, Global News has learned, after the union signed a tentative four-year agreement with the Ford government.
The new contract will mean Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) get two years of retroactive compensation, while payment for the third year will be decided in arbitration.
Bill 124 — the Ford government’s controversial wage-limiting legislation — capped public sector salaries at a rate of one per cent per year for a three-year term.
The law was struck down as unconstitutional in 2022, triggering a series of renegotiations that allowed public sector unions to recoup lost wages over the three-year period, costing the province billions of dollars.
According to the ETFO deal, obtained and verified by Global News, teachers will receive a Bill 124 “remedy”: