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Labour Relations

Bill 122, the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014, gave ACÉPO the role of employer bargaining agency. ACÉPO represents Ontario’s French-language public school boards and bargains centrally with the employee bargaining agencies when collective agreements come up for renewal.

ACÉPO Labour relations team
ACÉPO Labour relations team : Catherine Chereau-Sharp (Labour Relations Officer), Jennifer Lamarche Schmalz (Director of Labour Relations), Françoise Fournier (consultant), François Laperle (CEPEO Director of the Human Resources Department), Tracy Dottori (CSPNE Superintendent of Business), Isabelle Girard (Executive Director)

Bargaining process

Central and local bargaining

The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 (SBCBA) creates a two-tiered bargaining process in the education sector.

At the central level, the province and the school board associations negotiate working conditions with the teachers’ federations, the education workers’ unions and the principals and vice-principals’ association.

For local bargaining items, the school boards negotiate directly with their local unions at the local level. The province and the school board associations do not take part in these local talks.

Collaboration

The Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA), made up of Ontario’s four school board associations (ACÉPO, AFOCSC, OCSTA, OPSBA), represents the school boards at central bargaining tables. The other parties at these tables are the province and the employee bargaining agencies.

Administration of collective agreements

The school board associations oversee the implementation (interpretation, dispute resolution, grievances, arbitration, etc.) of ratified collective agreements and plan future bargaining with their partners and the different parties involved.

2019 – 2020 round of bargaining

A round of central bargaining for collective agreements began in summer 2019 and ended in May 2020. ACÉPO and its partners, the government and the unions sat at three bargaining tables: the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens table, the Canadian Union of Public Employees education workers table and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation education workers table.

ACÉPO’s priority at the bargaining tables was to reach agreements that support student achievement and well-being in a working environment that is respectful to everyone.

ACÉPO follows the process outlined in the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 (SBCBA).

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

On November 4, 2019, a central agreement was ratified between the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA), the province and CUPE.  The agreement will be valid until the next round of bargaining in 2022.

Ministry of Education statement: CUPE Central Agreement Now Ratified

l’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO)

On May 8, 2020, a central agreement was ratified between the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA), the province and AEFO.  The agreement will be valid until the next round of bargaining in 2022.

Ministry of Education statement: Ratification of Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) Central Agreement

ACÉPO Media release : Entente conclue avec les enseignantes et les enseignants francophones

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation – education workers table (OSSTF)

On May 22, 2020, a central agreement was ratified between the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA), the province and OSSTF.  The agreement will be valid until the next round of bargaining in 2022.

Ministry of Education backgrounder : Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) Central Agreements Now Ratified