Catholic elementary teachers put plans to strike on hold

Toronto’s Catholic elementary teachers have been without a contract since 2019

Toronto’s Catholic elementary teachers have put their strike plans on pause. Their union’s plan to target schools starting Monday was called off Friday afternoon as talks continued with the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

“In a show of good faith and as a result of constructive dialogue with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers have decided to pause our full withdrawal of services,” said union president Julie Altomare-Di Nunzio in a written statement. “Classes will continue as expected on Monday, January 31, 2022.”

The board said it will “continue to ask TECT to provide five days’ notice of which schools will be affected and when, should TECT decide to initiate a full withdrawal of services again.”

Earlier in the day, the board had told the union it needed to know what elementary schools would be targeted by strikes next week and on which days, and had asked the province’s labour relations board to force the issue.

Board chair Angela Kennedy said in a statement that after the board was notified of the strike — which the union had warned would hit one or more schools on Monday should a tentative deal not be reached by then — it needed more details, “to provide families with the appropriate information to prepare.”

Without clarification from the Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers’ union, known as TECT, “there is no way to know whether one elementary school will be affected on Monday or whether all elementary schools will be affected on Monday,” Kennedy said. “It’s also impossible to know what to expect on Tuesday, February 1st and so forth.”

She said “if all teachers at a particular school strike, the board will have no choice but to close the school to students. Despite the need for families to prepare alternate arrangements in the event of a school closure, as well as the obvious safety concerns caused by a young student who is dropped off at school only to learn there are no teachers available to supervise, TECT refused to provide this information.”

Negotiations continue and both sides have said they are willing to work throughout the weekend.

Earlier this week, TECT announced teachers would hit the picket lines after months of workto-rule, including a ban on extracurricular activities, parent-teacher meetings and providing barebones report cards only.

While provincial deals have been hammered out with all teacher unions covering costly items like salaries, local deals cover more administrative-type items.

Most union locals in the province, including Toronto’s Catholic secondary teachers, have ratified local deals over the past year.

The elementary teachers have been without a contract since 2019.

Kennedy has said the outstanding issues between the two sides include better managing the “serious issue” of absenteeism, as well as how to best assign teachers to classes to reduce disruption in schools, especially in the fall when classes are reorganized based on actual enrolment after school starts up.