Ontario teacher contracts expired Monday with no deal in sight
Unions and the province are deadlocked over what items to negotiate centrally versus locally, pushing the dispute to Ontario's labour relations board.
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Education workers' contracts across Ontario expired Monday night with no deal in place, and negotiations are now stalled over a procedural disagreement that could delay talks well into the school year.
Teachers' unions including the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario couldn't agree with the province on which bargaining items should be negotiated centrally versus locally. The province has traditionally allowed certain issues to be settled at the local level with school boards, but this round the government objected to what has been standard local bargaining for four rounds of talks.
Martha Hradowy, president of OSSTF, said the dispute means Ontario's labour relations board will now have to set a hearing date to determine the bargaining structure — a process that could take "weeks, if not months." David Mastin, president of ETFO, said the province is undermining local bargaining by trying to centralize all the issues unions want to negotiate.
The standstill means back-to-school will proceed as usual. According to labour studies researcher Chantal Mancini, there can't be job action until actual bargaining resumes. The province said in a statement Monday that it is "at all times" ready to continue discussions on local versus central issues "before proceeding to the next stage of negotiations."
How long will the labour relations board hearing take, and when might real wage and benefits bargaining begin?
If no deal is reached before the school year starts, what triggers job action?
We'll update this story as answers emerge.
The facts
When did Ontario education workers' contracts expire?
Education workers' contracts across Ontario expired on Monday, August 31, 2026.
What is blocking the contract negotiations?
Unions and the province are deadlocked over which bargaining items should be negotiated centrally versus locally, rather than disagreeing over the contract terms themselves.
What happens next in the dispute?
Ontario's labour relations board will hold a hearing to determine the bargaining structure, a process that could take weeks or months according to OSSTF president Martha Hradowy.
