Schools across Ontario will be shut down for one day next week — affecting all of the province’s two million students — as the four big teachers’ unions hold a massive, province-wide strike.

The walkout on Feb. 21 will mark the first time all public, French and Catholic teachers hit the picket lines on the same day in more than two decades, and the first legal one.

The move is meant to up the pressure on the province as contract negotiations have reached an impasse, with the teachers fighting a number of controversial changes the government is proposing and Education Minister Stephen Lecce insisting salary increases are the main sticking point.

“What you are seeing here is a show of unity between all of us,” said Harvey Bischof, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation. “The different things on the table hardly matter in the face of a government that wants to slash fundamental supports for all of our students and that’s what we are prepared to stand up together on Friday, February 21.”

“We stand together in the face of these cuts,” added Liz Stuart, who heads the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.

Teachers, who have been without a contract since last August, have been taking part in work to rule job action, and their unions have individually been holding one-day rotating or province-wide strikes.

The unions announced next week’s big strike just before Lecce addressed the Canadian Club at a downtown Toronto hotel, a speech that all four union leaders attended as hundreds of educators protested outside.

Lecce called the province-wide strike “irresponsible.”

“It’s time to get a deal,” he said. “The students of this province deserve to be in class.”

Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said “this is the first time in history all four teacher affiliates are saying the same thing and fighting the same fight on behalf of students and our members in this province.”

The teacher unions want the government to fully commit to full-day kindergarten, restore funding for more staff for special needs students, and abandon plans to boost class sizes in high schools, which will lead to thousands of lost teaching positions as well as fewer course offerings for teens. They also oppose plans to introduce two mandatory online courses in order to graduate, which would be a first in North America.

Educators are also seeking raises equal to the cost of living, about two per cent, while the government has offered one per cent annual increases.

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The government had one bargaining date with the union representing French-board teachers on Wednesday, at the behest of the mediator. No upcoming talks are scheduled with any of the teacher unions.

Next week’s province-wide strike will see about 200,000 teachers, early childhood educators and support staff hit the picket lines in all 72 school boards, shuttering 5,000 schools.

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