Toronto: Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) yesterday announced Phase 6 Strike Protocol from Wednesday, February 26, while urging the Ford government to get back to the bargaining table.
“ETFO is asking the government to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate an agreement by Friday, March 6,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond. “If the government ignores this opportunity and chooses labour disruption instead, ETFO will move to its Phase 7 Strike Protocol on Monday, March 9, 2020.”
Under Phase 6 Strike Protocol ETFO members will remain in schools and will follow their teaching, student supervision and preparation time schedules, as well as other scheduled duties. They will not fill in for absences that should be covered by occasional teachers and education workers, or upload data related to assessments. In addition, ETFO members will not be using their personal funds to pay for classroom and education-related expenses.
“During this phase of strike action, ETFO wants to highlight a long-standing concern, which is that teachers and educators have been filling in education funding gaps themselves by paying for classroom basics – books, paper, art supplies, technology, furniture and so on – out of their own pockets,” said Hammond. “These are items that should be covered by the Ministry of Education and school boards, but aren’t.”
“Using their own money to ensure their students have what they need to learn is just another example of the lengths our members will go to support Ontario’s public education system,” noted Hammond. “Unfortunately, this government’s inclination is quite different. It’s determined to pull much-needed funding out of our schools and undermine an education system that is consistently ranked as one of the top performers in the world.”
Lecce Responds
Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, hoped that ETFO will work with school boards to ensure that the escalated work-to-rule measures do not risk student safety and security.
“Our government wants to see investments in education helping our students, not increasing compensation and enhancing already generous benefits packages,” said in an issued statement adding that “I remain fully committed to reaching a deal that keeps students in class, provides certainty to parents, and fairness to educators.”