Local public elementary schools will be closed both Tuesday and Thursday next week as the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) continues one-day rotating strikes in its battle for a contract with the province.
On Tuesday, Feb. 11, a strike will be held at public elementary schools across Ontario, impacting all ETFO’s 83,000 members.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, elementary teachers at York Region District School Board will walk off the job for another one-day strike.
“ETFO’s 83,000 public elementary school educators will be on the picket lines again next week in the hope that the Ford government and Education Minister Lecce will return to talks prepared to support public education,” ETFO President Sam Hammond said in a news release.
“From ETFO’s perspective, fair contract talks must include: appropriate funding for special education; a strategy to address classroom violence; maintaining our internationally recognized kindergarten program; and fair hiring practices.”
Bargaining with the ETFO and the province broke off last Friday without a deal.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce released a statement saying the government had agreed to a major union demand that the kindergarten program, which features a teacher and early childhood educator working as a team in classes with a maximum of 29 children, would not be altered.
He maintains the government has been reasonable in bargaining, but that compensation remains the stumbling block.
“I have long said that compensation, pay, and benefits, remain a top priority for teachers’ union leaders, and that remains true today,” he said. “Even following our formal commitment to one of their publicly stated priorities, ETFO leadership continues to advance compensation for their members over the protection of the education system for our youngest learners.”
The province wants to limit raises to the one-per-cent annual increase contained in wage-restraint legislation for public servants. Education unions are seeking cost-of-living increases of around two per cent.