Officials at the Thames Valley District School Board expect elementary school teachers will implement "work to rule" action starting on Monday, rather than walking off the job.
As of Sunday, May 10, teachers across Ontario will be in a legal strike position. The union representing the teachers received a "no board" report from the Ministry of Labour last month.
The president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) says robocalls went out to 76,000 members late Monday night. The calls told them a strike notice would be filed with job action to begin on Monday, May 11.
If the teachers choose the "work-to-rule" route they will still show up for work each day, but do the bare minimum. Things like extra curriculars and report card comments would disappear. However, officials at the Thames Valley District School Board say they are not entirely sure what route the teachers will take.
"It's unclear what the specifics of their job action will look like," says the Associate Director of Organization Support Services for the Thames Valley District School Board Jeff Pratt. "The ETFO local office will providing a briefing to use in the next two days in terms of the specifics."
Should teachers decide to strike more than 800,000 students would be out of school across the province.
- with files from Lisa Brandt