Ontario's public elementary teachers vote in favour of strike mandate
CTV
The union representing the province’s public English elementary school teachers has announced that its members have voted 95 per cent in favour of a strike mandate as negotiations continue.
The union representing the province’s public English elementary school teachers has announced that its members have voted 95 per cent in favour of a strike mandate as negotiations continue.
“This strong strike mandate sends a very clear message to the government,” Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) president Karen Brownsaidin a press release.
“Our members have been working for over a year without a contract, and their patience has run out,” she continued. “We need the government to stop stalling and start negotiating seriously on our members’ key priorities, like providing more supports for students with special needs, acknowledging the staffing crisis in education, putting a fair compensation offer on the table, and addressing violence in schools.”
This strike mandate does not guarantee that ETFO members will be engaging in work-to-rule strike action or heading to the picket lines, but the union now has that option if negotiations stall.. Labour negotiations will continue in the days and weeks to come.
Strike votes were called by ETFO and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) in September after both unions rejected the province’s offer to take outstanding issues at the bargaining table to binding arbitration.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) is the only one of the four main teachers’ unions that agreed to the province’s offer.
Last month, nearly 80 per cent of OSSTF members voted in favour of a deal with the government to continue contract talks until Oct. 27 before sending any remaining items to an arbitrator. The agreement means that the union will not take strike action while trying to hammer out the details of its latest collective agreement.
