Members of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association have ratified an agreement for a new contract following months of contentious negotiations and four one-day strikes.
Association president Liz Stuart says it was a particularly difficult round of negotiations as the Ontario government sought to implement what she called ``significant cuts'' to publicly funded education.
The one-day walk-outs by the association's 45,000 members marked the first time Catholic teachers had engaged in province-wide strike action.
Stuart says Catholic teachers stood up for students and wound up securing funding for programs for vulnerable children, scuppering government plans for mandatory e-learning and enhancing the process for reporting violence in the classroom.
The agreement allows the association to continue pursuing a constitutional challenge to the government's cap on compensation increases.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce congratulated the teachers and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association for ratifying the deal.