KAWARTHA LAKES-Local secondary school teachers and education workers will join their provincial counterparts tomorrow in their first province-wide job action in more than twenty years.
Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF) members will engage in information pickets before or after school, or during lunch periods. The information pickets will not disrupt the regular school day and will have no effect on students in the classroom according to the union.
Locally, secondary teachers and professional support personnel will engage in public outreach that will take place at various times over the next week throughout Trillium Lakelands including at local high schools and include two pickets at Laurie Scott’s office in Lindsay next Monday at 3:30 and Norm Miller’s office in Bracebridge at 4:15. These actions will not impact the regular school day according to the union.
“Doug Ford’s Minister of Education would have Ontarians believe that he’s eager to get to a deal,” said OSSTF/FEESO President Harvey Bischof. “But the bargaining process has been underway for months now, and through that entire time the government side of the table has willfully avoided any meaningful discussion of issues that are crucial to the quality of education in Ontario. They have simply refused to acknowledge the devastating effect that increased class sizes, mandatory e-learning, and the loss of thousands of teacher and support staff positions will have on the province’s students.”
In addition OSSTF/FEESO members will begin a limited withdrawal of services that will affect government or school board initiatives only.
Officials say these job actions will have no impact on student learning.
Duties that OSSTF/FEESO members will NOT perform include:
- Participation in EQAO preparation or testing
- Completion/Submission of Ministry of Education Data Reports
- Participation in School Board Professional Activities that are based on Ministry of Education or School Board Initiatives
- Participation in unpaid staff meetings outside the regular school day
- Providing comments on any secondary provincial report cards
- Will not perform the work of another Bargaining Unit, even if directed by administration
“The commencement of these job actions does not preclude the achievement of a negotiated agreement. OSSTF/FEESO remains committed to negotiating solutions that focus on quality learning environments, student success, and the continued viability of publicly-funded education in Ontario,” concluded Bischof.
Members have been in a legal strike position since Nov. 18th.
OSSTF represents 60,000 teachers and education workers. OSSTF Local District 15 represents about 400 secondary teachers and occasional teachers as well as about 25
student support professionals. The teachers and occasional teachers voted 95 per cent in favour of a strike, and education workers voted 92 per cent according to the union.
All of OSSTF/FEESO’s bargaining proposals, along with those from the government side of the table, can be found at bargainingforeducation.ca.