Teachers nearly unanimous in voting for strike action
Pressure builds on Ford government over cuts, class sizes, wages and more
Ontario’s public elementary school teachers have voted 98 per cent in favour of strike action.
Teachers and the early childhood educators represented by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) are prepared to act if they need to, president Sam Hammond said Friday morning in announcing the results.
The “historic strike vote” sends a message that the government needs to get serious at the bargaining table, said Hammond.
Hammond said members across the province are concerned about class sizes and structure, lack of support for kids with special education needs and the increasing level of violence in elementary schools that has been “swept under the rug” by school boards and the government.
His members will not agree to cuts to Ontario’s school system, said Hammond. The union previously said the government, during bargaining, said it was seeking cuts of up to 2.5 per cent in overall education spending and $150 million in concessions in ETFO’s collective agreement.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce released a statement warning that ETFO had “taken another escalating step toward a strike which will disproportionately hurt our kids.”
“Strike action caused by unions could mean school closures, disruption, and uncertainty for students and parents,” said Lecce’s statement. “I support a deal, not a strike. Our team remains unequivocal in our determination to land deals with our labour partners as soon as possible to keep our kids in the classroom.”
The strike vote by elementary teachers is the latest salvo as tense negotiations continue between the province, school boards and education unions.
ETFO is Ontario’s largest education union, with 83,000 members in English public schools. They are mainly teachers, although the union represents early childhood educators, who work in kindergartens, at some boards. (But not in Ottawa, where the early childhood educators at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are represented by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.)
The vote does not mean members will strike, but it’s a tool often used to pressure the other side during bargaining.
ETFO resumes bargaining on Monday with a conciliator, said Hammond.
Education unions have launched fierce campaigns against virtually all of the government’s changes to education, including cuts to some funding and the introduction of larger classes.
For elementary teachers, class sizes have risen by just under one student in grades 4 to 8, with the average moving from 23.8 students to 24.5 students.
Class-size restrictions in kindergarten to Grade 3 were not changed.
Wages are also an issue. The government has introduced legislation that would keep wage increases for all public sector workers to no more than one per cent a year.
When asked what wage increase the union was seeking, Hammond did not provide a direct answer Friday, but said the government’s wage-restriction legislation interferes with collective bargaining.
One education union has already agreed to the one per cent increase in a tentative agreement reached last month. As part of the deal with the 55,000 school support workers represented by CUPE, the government also agreed to add $78 million in funding to restore jobs that had been cut. jmiller@postmedia.com twitter.com/JacquieAMiller