The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association says it has reached a tentative deal with the provincial government.

“OECTA has reached a tentative agreement with the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association and the Government of Ontario on central terms for a new collective agreement,” OECTA President Liz Stuart said in a statement Thursday.

Stuart said the details of the agreement would not be released pending ratification by members.

“Effective immediately, all OECTA strike action is suspended during the ratification process,” Stuart said.

The union has been engaged in rotating strikes and other job action along with the other major teachers unions in the province for months amid a dispute with the province over wages, class sizes, proposed e-learning courses and other issues.

The provincial government partially backtracked last week on the issues of class sizes and mandatory e-learning courses. However there was no movement last week on the government’s effort to legislate a salary increase cap of one per cent.

It is not known if any movement was made on compensation as part of the tentative deal.

Speaking about the tentative deal, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said it is “good for students, good for teachers and educators, and good for the people of this province.”

He added that he’s hopeful the deal “will build momentum for further deals that ensure stability for every child.”

The Toronto Catholic District School Board said in a statement it is pleased to learn that both parties have reached a tentative agreement.

"We appreciate the efforts of everyone involved in this process and look forward to the resumption of regularly scheduled school day," the school board said.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario was in a second day of negotiations with the province Thursday.

While no deal was reached ETFO said that it was suspending rotating strike action in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However decisions around strike action could be moot for weeks, with the province announcing Thursday that it is shuttering all publicly funded schools for two weeks past March break, from March 14 through April 5, in order to curb the spread of the virus.

Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said Thursday he had reached out to the government to offer cooperation “to ensure that our schools are safe”

“In light of the rapidly developing Covid-19 situation, OSSTF/FEESO will welcome any opportunity to work with the Ministry of Education and Ontario’s school boards to ensure that our schools are safe places for our students, and for the educators who work with them,” Bischof said in a statement.

“To that end, we are writing to the Minister of Education, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, and the Council of Trustees’ Associations to offer our cooperation and support in any efforts that will help to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus.”

The OSSTF also announced Thursday that its annual Meeting of the Provincial Assembly, which was scheduled to take place March 13 to 16, will now be postponed indefinitely because of the pandemic.

OECTA also announced that it would postpone its annual general meeting, which was slated to be held in Toronto March 14 to 16.

- With files from The Canadian Press