Students lose teams, clubs in education labour dispute

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 28, 2015
By Lisa Queen

This is not the graduating year 13-year-old David Polegato had hoped for when he began Grade 8.

The year started off with news Ontario’s public elementary teachers wouldn’t participate in field trips as part of their escalating job action.

As of yesterday, teachers are no longer taking part in voluntary extracurricular activities.

For David, until there is a settlement, that means an end to the volleyball team he’s on, no chance of trying out for the basketball and badminton teams later this year and no grad trip to Ottawa or Niagara Falls.

“It’s really annoying because that’s the one escape from school we kind of have, the one good thing, and now it’s gone. Everything has already been stripped down, so we really don’t have any other reason to go to school than we are forced to anymore,” the student at Fairwood Public School in Keswick said.

“The school day is pretty much get there, do your work, that’s about it, nothing else.”

After practising during the summer and at school, David was thrilled he made the volleyball team last month.

“It was kind of like, ‘I’m finally on the team, I’m finally going to have the kind of year to really get into all the sports and everything, kind of make a difference, maybe try for some awards and stuff’,” he said.

“It’s a sports team and that’s part of who you are, what you do at the school and it looks good on you overall in terms of high schools and stuff.”

The possibility of losing the grad trip is upsetting, David said.

“That would really suck. It’s kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said.

David Clegg, the York Region president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said the mediator overseeing negotiations has ordered union officials not to comment publicly on the labour situation.

Talks have been going on since last weekend.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday night, about 200 education support workers and supporters held an information picket at a trustee meeting at the York Catholic District School Board office in Aurora.

“It was a respect rally” urging the province to come to a collective agreement that respects education workers, including educational assistants, early childhood educators, clerical staff and custodians, Elena Di Nardo, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2331 representing some education workers in York Region, said.

Negotiations with education workers resumed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tensions among public elementary teachers and education workers are high at the moment after Premier Kathleen Wynne said last week the province could start docking their pay beginning Nov. 1 unless they negotiate settlements.

“At the moment, it’s frustrating, it’s extremely stressful with the ultimatum,” Di Nardo said.

“My members are upset.”

Wynne’s announcement came on the heels of the teachers’ decision to withdraw from extracurricular activities.

“Children’s lives are being negatively affected. This has got to stop,” she said last Friday.

The teachers’ union said it was not participating in extracurricular activities because the government and the school boards’ association had not responded to requests to return to the bargaining table, although Education Minister Liz Sandals disputed the claim.

Although Ontario’s public high school teachers have reached an agreement with the provincial government, labour unrest in some areas of the province is still ongoing because negotiations now take place provincially and locally with school boards.

Beginning Monday, public high school teachers in the Ontario North East district of the province will go on strike unless an agreement is reached, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation has announced.

In York Region, public high school teachers reached a tentative deal with the York Region District School Board at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, spokesperson Licinio Miguelo said.

“We believe this agreement continues to build on our success and is focused on student achievement and well-being,” he said in an email Wednesday.

“The next step will be for the board and local OSSTF to work through the ratification process with their respective parties. We are hopeful ratification will occur in the near future and will make a public announcement at that time.”