Catholic teachers plan one-day strike next week as Lecce urges unions to budge at the bargaining table

Thestar.com
Jan. 14, 2020
Kristin Rushowy

The province’s 45,000 English Catholic teachers will hold a one-day strike next week amid mounting trouble for the Ford government on the education front.

The union representing teachers in the province’s 12 French language boards is also set to begin a work-to-rule on Thursday, with details to be revealed Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation is set to hold another one-day Wednesday walkout this week, as a work-to-rule campaign continues.

And the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has hit the third phase of its job action --shutting down field trips and all after-hours’ extracurriculars --with the threat of one-day rotating strikes that could begin next week if no deal has been reached.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association “has decided to escalate to a one-day, province-wide strike that negatively impacts their students” following just “five hours of a work-to-rule campaign” that began Monday morning.

“I am disappointed in the teacher unions continued focus on escalation that hurts students,” he said in a statement. “Our government will remain focused on improving public education and keeping students in class.”

However, Catholic teachers’ union President Liz Stuart said the negotiations it held one day last week with the government were fruitless, and the daylong walkout is necessary to show the province teachers will not accept larger class sizes or mandatory e-learning.

“It has become clear that this government will only do the right thing when they are under pressure from Ontarians,” Stuart said.

Lecce has said the government has already made changes to its proposals at the bargaining table, and that the unions need to now do the same.

Teachers, he said, “are prepared to fight on the streets, in the context of protesting the government, prepared to fight in the courts on compensation --an issue that I know is very central to their heart --but they have made no movement at all on any of their top matters. They have only made ultimatums on the government. That is not really constructive.”

The unions oppose the government’s plans to boost class sizes, in particular in high school where the average is set to go from 22 to 25, and they say it must abandon plans for mandatory online learning for high school students. Both moves would phase out thousands of teaching positions as well as lead to fewer course options for teens.

A confidential report obtained by the Star showed that the Ford government had looked at keeping e-learning optional until 2024, and also planned to cut school board funding and sell online courses to other jurisdictions to raise money.

Only a handful of U.S. states mandate an online course for high school students, but nowhere in North America requires more than one. The move is highly unpopular among Ontario students, as well as school boards.

The organization representing Ontario’s two million students said it is “disappointed” by the one-day strikes.

“A full withdrawal of services has a significant impact on student life, can jeopardize child-care arrangements, and can greatly reduce focus on preparation as students move into secondary exam season,” said Ontario Student Trustees’ Association President Sally Meseret.

“Ontario students need all parties to continue to work to reach a deal which prioritizes and supports students’ needs, while also ensuring student learning is unaffected during this sensitive time.”

The student association opposes larger class sizes and mandatory e-learning.

While Lecce has said that salary increases are a key issue --with the government offering one per cent a year, and teachers seeking cost-of-living, or about two per cent --the union say that’s not the case.

“Further escalation is not going to help get a deal,” Lecce said. “It is going to frustrate the process and I don’t think that would be particularly constructive.”

But Stuart said “the reality is that teachers are the last line of defence when it comes to stopping this government’s reckless education agenda.”