Union calls elementary teachers offer ‘offensive’
The union representing Ontario’s public elementary teachers says it is waiting for the government and school boards’ association to take “offensive” concessions off the table, otherwise it will be “looking at all the options” after May 10, when it will be in a legal strike position.
“We are hoping on, or prior to, May 10 that we get substantial movement at the table and we won’t have to move in a direction nobody wants to move in,” Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, told the Star.
He said the union is not interested in negotiating concessions and the current offer on the table is “offensive” to his 76,000 members.
A strike would affect more than 817,000 students.
“There are a number of things in terms of trying to micromanage classrooms . . . and a couple of items that attack our members’ judgment and professionalism in general and we’ve repeatedly asked them to remove those things.”
On May10, the union could strike or begin a work-to-rule campaign. However, Hammond said talks continue with a mediator, with up to four days scheduled this week and more dates the next. Hammond’s comments came as Sudbury-area high school teachers hit the picket lines Monday, and as their counterparts in Durham Region began a second week on strike. Peel Region high school teachers have warned they’ll walk off the job on May 4 if no local deal is reached, and other areas targeted are Halton, Waterloo, Ottawa and Thunder Bay.
This round of bargaining is twotiered, with the provincial school boards’ associations, unions and the Ministry of Education trying to settle the big-money issues like class size, salary and sick leave, with individual school boards and union districts negotiating local items.
Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, has called the local highschool teacher strikes “part of a larger strategy to apply pressure at the provincial table in order to come towards a deal.”
Education Minister Liz Sandals told reporters Monday the government never expected bargaining to be easy because there’s no money for pay increases, something Finance Minister Charles Sousa reiterated.
“I’ve made it very clear there is no money in the kitty for increased compensation without finding savings,” he said.
Meanwhile, the province’s English Catholic teachers, who recently voted 94.2 per cent in favour of a strike, won’t be in a legal strike position until mid-June at the earliest.