Ontario high school teachers to stage third 1-day walkout on Dec. 18
Citynews.ca
Dec. 16, 2019
High school teachers will hold a third one-day strike on Dec. 18.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation says teachers and education workers at 10 provincial school boards will take part in a full withdrawal of services.
Among the GTA area school boards affected are public high schools in York Region and Halton. Schools in those regions were closed during the last one-day walkout back on Dec. 4.
While the York Catholic District School Board is being targeted by the OSSTF job action, its members include psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and behavioural specialists and not teachers who are part of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. The YCDSB says schools will be open on Dec. 18 as usual.
The Toronto District School Board, which has been the target of the last two one-day walkouts, will not be involved this time. Instead, teachers will hold information pickets in front of schools and at MPPs’ offices but schools are expected to be open as usual next Wednesday.
Union president Harvey Bischof says there has been no progress in talks with the government since the last day of bargaining on Dec. 3.
“We are hopeful that the Minister is ready to get serious about bargaining next week, to come to the table in good faith and reverse his government’s devastating cuts to our students’ education system,” Bischof said in a statement.
“We hope that the Ford government is ready to negotiate a fair deal. A deal that is good for students, good for education workers, good for teachers, and good for our province. But if not, we’re ready to fight for their future, and we will use every tool available to us to do so.”
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said compensation is a key issue at the table, with high school teachers asking for a roughly two per cent increase and the government offering one per cent, as per the legislation.
“If there were any question that this wasn’t about salary, those doubts were put to bed when the four teacher unions launched their challenge to legislation that deals with compensation increases for the public service,” he said in a statement Friday.
The news comes a day after the province’s four major teachers’ unions launched charter challenges against a recent law capping wage increases for public sector workers.
The following boards will be affected by the Dec. 18 strike are:
Lakehead District School Board
Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board
Lambton Kent District School Board
Thames Valley District School Board
Waterloo Region District School Board
Waterloo Catholic District School Board
York Region District School Board
York Catholic District School Board
Halton District School Board
