"It boggles the mind," says the president of the union local representing teachers at St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic High School after 11 teachers were suspended indefinitely without pay.
The teachers were notified Monday morning that they were insubordinate after they didn't use a second queue of traffic to cross the picket line set up by striking support staff.
There have been long traffic backups at the school entrances every day since the strike started just over a week ago, and at the school in LaSalle, police officers have been directing some traffic into a second queue to speed up delays. Although the teachers had been instructed by principals to use the second queue, the officer didn't direct them there.
Brian Hogan, with the Windsor-Essex Secondary branch of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, says the teachers were just trying to get to work under conditions that could become dangerous.
"They were waiting for police to advise them. B, they couldn't see, and didn't want an accident," says Hogan. "They actually texted people near the front of the line and said, 'Hey, how's that other cue?' and they said, 'it's full.'"
"Somehow, I don't know, they expect our teachers to run over the picketers or something," says Hogan, who calls the notices heavy-handed and unprecedented. "The whole idea of a slow-down gets discourse, but I've never heard of a labour dispute creating suspensions for another labour group."
Support staff at the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board are represented by Unifor Local 2458.
Hogan says he spoke with human resources staff with the school board Monday and hopes to meet with them again today. He has sought legal advice, but he's also calling on parents to step up and pressure both sides in the dispute.
"I know there's a board meeting tonight [Tuesday]. That would be a perfect opportunity for moms and dads to say 'Hey, come on, let's get back to the table,'" he says.
He believes it was premeditated, and an intimidation tactic since security and at least one superintendent were taking pictures of staff in their vehicles.
Stephen Fields, a spokesman for the Catholic school board, responded in an email to an inquiry from Blackburn News, "It's board policy that we don't speak publicly about personnel issues."
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Related: Strike At Catholic Schools Causes Traffic Backups