Ontario’s public elementary teachers will strike two days a week if their union and the provincial government have not reached a deal by Friday.

A memo sent Monday to members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario detailed the significant step-up in job action, which will take effect next week, shutting down schools across the province and leaving parents rushing to find daycare.

“ETFO locals will continue in a full withdrawal of services strike that will require members to engage in a one-day rotating strike and a one-day full provincial strike each week” if no deal is reached by Jan. 31, the memo said.

The union had been holding one-day strikes in just a few boards each day. In “phase 5” of its job action, ETFO will schedule rotating strikes in about 10 boards a day, with a one-day walkout hitting all boards for a second day in the same week.

The first province-wide strike is set for Thurs. Feb. 6. The Toronto and York public boards are scheduled for a rotating strike the following day.

The Toronto Catholic board will also be affected on Feb. 7, as its early childhood educators — who work in full-day kindergarten classrooms and are represented by ETFO — will also be off the job. During the previous one-day strike, the board kept kindergarten classrooms running.

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The Monday memo also instructs ETFO’s 83,000 members not to take part in any extracurricular activities as of Feb. 3. Currently, only clubs and sports held during the school day are permitted.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement that “teacher union leaders once again are breaking their promise to parents as they proceed with a full one-day withdrawal of services, province-wide. The consequences of union-led escalation are real, as families are forced to find child care on short notice.”

He said that “repeated escalation at the expense of our students, to advance higher compensation, higher wages, and even more generous benefits, is unacceptable for parents and students in our province. We firmly believe students should be in class, which is why we continue to stand ready to negotiate to reach a deal Ontario students deserve.”

The province has promised to reimburse parents up to $60 a day per child for daycare during strike action.

The provincial government has two days of talks scheduled this week with the union that represents teachers in French-language boards, but has no upcoming dates with the three other teacher unions.

All four teacher unions are engaged in some form of job action, saying they are frustrated with the lack of progress with the province.

“There is nothing to be gained by (Lecce) avoiding meaningful and fair contract talks other than further damaging the reputation of the Ford government,” ETFO president Sam Hammond said in a written statement.

“Educators and parents are not going to accept the government’s deep cuts to public education that only serve to harm the quality of education for generations to come.”

Most public school boards have also opted not to send home winter report cards, as teachers are only submitting marks to principals and not inputting them into the system.

Premier Doug Ford said last week that he is growing impatient with the teachers’ continuing job action, and Lecce has questioned teachers’ commitment to students, given the ongoing strikes.

ETFO says its main issues include improved funding for special-needs students, a commitment to the full-day kindergarten program and smaller class sizes, as well as salary increases based on cost of living — about 2 per cent.

Lecce has publicly committed to full-day kindergarten and the current staffing model of one full-time teacher and one full-time early childhood educator, although ETFO says provincial negotiators have not.

The Ford government has also passed legislation capping public sector wage increases at 1 per cent.

“I challenge the minister to send his negotiators back to the table to address these issues because in four months of talks from August through December 2019, his negotiators had no mandate to discuss them,” Hammond said.

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Rotating strikes in Greater Toronto Area boards next week will hit Halton on Feb. 3, and Peel, Durham and Durham Catholic on Feb. 4.

Meanwhile, the school board council of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said $78 million a year in funding included in its collective agreement reached last October with the province has yet to materialize.

The money was to be used to hire — and rehire — more staff, especially for special needs students, president Laura Walton said.

Alexandra Adamo, a spokesperson for Lecce, said “CUPE voluntarily signed an agreement knowing that many aspects of the agreement would be fully implemented once the union ratifies the agreement at both the central and local levels” which has yet to happen in “many boards.”