Public high school teachers to hold one-day strike on Dec. 4: union

Chris Herhalt CP24.com

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The union representing Ontario’s 80,000 public high school teachers and support staff say they will hold a one-day strike on Dec. 4, saying they remain at odds with the Ford government’s agenda of cutting costs through class size increases and below-inflation wage hikes.

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation President Harvey Bischof told reporters Thursday their work-to-rule campaign of not filling out report cards or participating in unpaid meetings did little to sway the government, so they will walk off the job next Wednesday if a deal is not reached.

“What the Crown brought to the table today was absolutely nothing,” he said. “Not even one single proposal to place on the table even after we had begun a very mild withdrawal of services and some political action.”

Earlier this month, the union voted more than 95 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.

He said teachers will walk off the job for the entirety of Dec. 4, all across the province and return to work the following day.

“This is intended to draw further attention to this government’s destructive cuts to the education system.”

Bischof previously said the two sides remain “far apart” on issues such as wages, average class sizes and the proposed mandatory use of online courses, which the Ford government reduced recently to two credits out of the required thirty needed to graduate high school, down from four.

“The Crown continues to insist on raising class sizes by 14 per cent and the minister continues to characterize this as an improvement,” Bischof said.

He said that the law required the union to provide five days’ notice for the job action and they have given six.

“There’s time to reach a deal,” Bischof said. This minister has demonstrated that he reacts only to pressure, we hopes he responds appropriately now and tables measures that are good for the education system.”

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he is disappointed the union is choosing the step for a time-limited strike.

“Fundamentally, the decision point to escalate to remove kids from class for a day or for any point of time is unacceptable.”

He said that his negotiators have attempted to offer conciliatory measures, reducing the scope of change to class size caps and e-learning, but gotten “no offer” of anything in response from OSSTF.

“On the days we made reasonable offers – reducing class sizes from 28 to 25, reducing online learning courses from four to two — the unions chose to escalate. That is wrong.”

Throughout the broader public sector, the Ford government has demanded all public sector workers accept no more than a one per cent wage increase for the next three years.

School support staff represented by CUPE have already accept these wages, but teachers say they need at least increases pegged to the cost of living, which this year would equate to about 1.9 per cent.

Lecce rejected this, saying teachers in Ontario already have competitive wages.

“Educators in Ontario are the second highest remunerated in the country, we pay them well and we value their work,” he said, adding a cost of living increase this year would cost taxpayers $1.5 billion, while a one per cent hike would cost roughly half of that.

In a statement, NDP education critic Marit Stiles said that the Ford government proposals on lifting class sizes and introducing mandatory e-learning have pressurized labour talks.

"Doug Ford’s deep cuts to education have hurt students and their families and brought conflict to our classrooms. He never should have brought us to this point. Instead of picking a fight with educators and forcing them to fight to protect public education in Ontario, Doug Ford should listen to parents who say that schools need more caring adults in classrooms, not less."

The Toronto District School Board said in a statement on Thursday that it "would have no other option but to close all secondary schools to students as there would not be sufficient supervision to ensure their safety."

All TDSB secondary schools, Adult Day schools, secondary night schools, and any out-of-school activities would be cancelled on that day, the board said.

"As a result, parents/guardians should make alternate arrangements for their children if required."

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