Teachers at three GTA elementary school boards to stage strike Tuesday
Posted December 15, 2012 10:44 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont, – The Elementary Teacher Federation of Ontario (ETFO) confirmed Saturday that teachers in three major GTA school boards will walk off the job Tuesday in a one-day strike protesting Bill 115.
Toronto, Durham and Peel School Board elementary teachers, occasional teachers and designated early childhood educators will be staging a one-day strike.
“As the largest school board in the province, this is not an action that our members take lightly,” said Martin Long, president of the Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT).
“We have been forced into this action by an education minister who has willfully stripped educators of their legal right to collectively bargain.”
The Greater Essex, Near North, Grand Erie, Waterloo Region and Lambton Kent elementary school teachers will also participate in the one-day strike Tuesday.
That brings the total number of boards striking on Tuesday to eight, which is the largest number so far.
“To date, the education minister has yet to do anything to assist local school boards in pursuing fair and respectful negotiations with our members,” said Sam Hammond, ETFO President.
“She can end the chaos she has created by repealing Bill 115 and letting local bargaining proceed without interference.”
Teachers are protesting the contentious Bill 115 that allows the province to stop strikes and impose a new collective agreement that would freeze wages and cut benefits.
The province says teachers are putting students in the middle of a dispute over pay.
Premier Dalton McGuinty has said the government will not intervene in the one-day strikes as long as the union fulfills its promise to provide 72-hours notice to parents.
If teachers do not reach local deals with their school boards by Dec. 31, the province will impose one.
