Ontario’s elementary, high schools announce plan to vote on striking

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Ontario’s elementary and secondary schools announced plans to hold strike votes next month after what they described as failed collective bargaining with the provincial government.

Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario president Karen Brown told the union’s annual meeting in Toronto that she was asking members for a provincewide strike mandate, with in-person strike votes starting in mid-September.

“We have reached a tipping point. ETFO’s patience has run out. Our members’ patience has run out. We now need to pressure this government to come to the table and start to bargain with us seriously,” Ms. Brown said.

“We will not be standing by and taking it any longer. Our members deserve respect. Enough is enough.”

Ontario’s education unions, including teachers unions, have been in negotiations since their contracts with the province expired last August. The ETFO has asked the province to improve supports for students with special needs, address violence in schools, increase compensation, adopt fair and transparent hiring practices, lighten workloads and working conditions and reduce class sizes.

Ms. Brown said the union has tried to “bargain in good faith” with the province at more than 30 collective bargaining meetings over the past year, but the government has “refused to engage meaningfully,” while tabling important proposals regarding teacher salaries, benefits and working conditions.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation also told its members in a memo that it will hold strike votes this fall. The memo, which was obtained by The Globe and Mail, said the government has shown “little interest” in productive negotiations over the past 13 months.

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The memo said staffing and retention are priorities for the union.

“It is well past time for this government to come to the table willing to conclude a deal to ensure students in Ontario can learn and grow in a world-renowned public education system,” said the memo.

“A strong strike mandate will demonstrate our unity and determination to achieve fair and favourable terms for our members and students.”

Ontario’s Minister of Education Stephen Lecce said in statement to The Globe and Mail that the province has been bargaining in good faith by meeting with all education unions more than 170 times and “are focused on securing a deal that keeps kids in class, provides parents with stability, and treats educators fairly.”

“Threatening another strike and creating anxiety for parents and students just weeks before the start of the school year is unnecessary and unfair,” Mr. Lecce said.

Mr. Lecce said private mediation was rejected by the teachers union to reach deals and said the province is available “to meet every day to negotiate” and come to an agreement. “I believe by staying at the table, we can and will reach a deal that keeps kids learning in classrooms where they belong,” he said.

The province remains in a fight with the unions over a law passed in 2019 that restricted wage increases for public-sector unions, including teachers, to 1 per cent per year over three years. Labour unions, including the teachers unions, challenged the law in court and last November the Superior Court of Justice struck down the law as unconstitutional. The province has since filed an appeal.

The strike votes are planned nearly a year after education support workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees walked off the job for two days and threatened a full strike last November to protest a provincial law that invoked the notwithstanding clause to prevent strikes or lockouts during their labour negotiations. The strike was averted after the government agreed to repeal the bill.