Catholic teachers' deal with province troubles union

The president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation in Thunder Bay is questioning the deal Catholic teachers tentatively struck with the province Thursday.

Paul Caccamo said the contract gives the government a lot of concessions, and he's worried the province will use it as the template for the other teachers' unions.

"Some of these working conditions ... that are part of our contract were negotiated in good faith over decades," he said. "There seems to be an appetite and a push for taking them away … very quickly."

Among the concessions, the contract would not allow teachers to keep banking sick days, and their allotment of 20 sick days a year would be cut to 10.

Sick days already banked will be protected and can be cashed out at retirement, however.

Caccamo, who is the president of a bargaining unit representing 300 high school teachers in the Thunder Bay area, said a two-year wage freeze like the one the Catholic teachers would receive is not a stumbling block for his members, but the agreement strips away things that were already negotiated.

"The terms that they've negotiated are not great," he said. "My concern ... in the general sense is ... the terms they've come to an agreement with the government on will be forced upon our bargaining unit — and that is certainly something that we have some very serious concerns over."