One of Ontario's largest education unions has taken a significant step in contract talks.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) announced Tuesday that it had filed for conciliation with the Ontario Ministry of Labour for its teacher and educational worker tables.
ETFO President Karen Brown said members' patience is being tested.
"Over the past year, ETFO’s central bargaining team has attempted to resolve key issues to secure a fair deal for its teacher, occasional teacher, and education worker members. But after a full year of bargaining without sufficient progress and negotiations at a standstill, the Federation is filing for conciliation," said Brown in a statement.
Under conciliation, the union has requested a third party to step in and resolve the key issues in bargaining.
ETFO has about 83,000 members across Ontario, mainly working in English-language public elementary schools.
The move comes a day after Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce urged the ETFO and two other "big four" teachers' unions to follow the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation's example by agreeing to settle any outstanding issues by binding arbitration. He said it would avoid a strike and keep children in the classroom.
Brown reiterated on Tuesday that the ETFO is currently not considering that request.
"Binding arbitration, at this point in bargaining, is rolling the dice with our members’ hard-won rights and entitlements," said Brown. "We are hopeful a conciliation officer, a neutral third party, will help us explore all possible options in reaching agreements that are fair for our members, that support the work they do with elementary students, and that strengthen our public education system."
Issues that the ETFO wants the province to pay attention to, in addition to wages and benefits, include school violence, support for special education students, and teacher recruitment.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) and the French-language AEFO have also expressed doubt a deal involving binding arbitration would suffice.
Lecce announced Monday that he is meeting with two unions this week and the third next week to present similar offers.
"We are going to make the case, and we hope that they will take us up on this offer and get this deal done as soon as possible so we can move forward with predictability for families, that their kids are going to be in school for three straight years of uninterrupted learning," said Lecce.
The ETFO will hold a strike vote between mid-September and mid-October.
Classes begin for all of Ontario's publicly-funded school boards next Tuesday.