Ont. elementary teachers start 1-day strikes, Monday
Posted Dec 10, 2012 02:22:01 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario elementary school teachers have begun a series of rotating one-day walkouts this week, starting with the Avon Maitland and Ontario North East school boards, Monday.
The next round of rolling strikes will begin Tuesday, when teachers from the District School Board of Niagara and Keewatin-Patricia District School Board of Northwestern Ontario will strike.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday Hastings-Prince Edward, Ottawa-Carleton and Lakehead school board teachers will stage a one-day strike.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) confirmed Monday that elementary teachers in York Region will stage a one-day strike on Thursday.
Sixteen elementary teacher local unions are in a legal strike position, including the Durham, Peel, Hamilton and Toronto boards.
The walkouts are in protest of Bill 115, which gives the government the power to stop strikes and impose collective bargaining agreements on teachers.
The teachers’ union has agreed to a two-year wage freeze, but they argue that taking away the right to strike violates many of their rights.
Education Minister Laurel Broten has said she must balance the rights’ of the children with the right of the teachers to strike, and said she would not intervene as long as the strikes remain single-day strikes.
She did hint that anything more than the one-day strike could lead to legislative action.
Meanwhile, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) said its members, as of Monday, will withdraw from all non-classroom work, including extra-curricular sports and events such as holiday concerts.
