Ontario Catholic teachers in legal strike position Dec. 21

Torontosun.com
December 6, 2019
Antonella Artuso

Ontario’s elementary and secondary Catholic school teachers will be in a legal strike position Dec. 21, although their union has yet to announce any job action.

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) noted its members voted 97.1% in favour of strike action, if necessary.

Members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) are currently withdrawing from administrative and other tasks, while the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) carried out a one-day strike Wednesday.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce pointed the finger of blame at teachers unions for the escalation.

The minister said his government’s bargaining position has been reasonable with a focus on  keeping students in class.

“Our government believes a 1%, $750-million increase in compensation for our education workers and teachers is fair,” Lecce said Thursday. “We pay teachers the second highest in the nation--the average OSSTF teacher, for context, makes $92,000 a year. And so I think that is a rather reasonable compensation figure for the work they do.”

Teachers unions have said that a 1% pay cap brought in by the government for public sector workers interferes with fair bargaining.

However, they say the real issue is cuts to education services and increases in class sizes.

“As has become abundantly clear this week, Ontarians recognize the Ford government is not listening to their concerns, or treating publicly-funded education with the respect it deserves,” OECTA President Liz Stuart said in a statement. “This ‘no-board’ should serve as another wakeup call for Premier Ford and Minister Lecce that it is time to get their act together.”

Two days of bargaining are scheduled this week as government negotiators attempt to reach an agreement with OECTA which represents 45,000 Kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers in the province’s publicly-funded English Catholic schools.

The Christmas break for Catholic schools this year runs Dec. 23-Jan. 3.