With no end to contract negotiations in sight, all public elementary and secondary schools in the Windsor-Essex region will be closed for one day due to a strike.
Teachers and education workers with the Greater Essex County District School Board, along with eight other school boards across Ontario, will walk off the job on Wednesday as talks between the teachers' union and the province appears to be at a standstill. Staff at the local French Public Board will also be participating in strike action on Wednesday.
Unionized members with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) will picket at a number of locations including Belle River District High School, General Amherst High School, Kennedy Collegiate Institute, the Mason Building for continuing education, and MPP Rick Nicholl’s office in Leamington. Information pickets will also be held in front of schools, MPPs’ offices, and other locations across the province.
The OSSTF has said class sizes, staffing, mandatory e-learning, and other issues that affect the quality of student learning have been sticking points throughout contract negotiations with the province.
On Friday, officials with the OSSTF offered to cancel/delay the strike action on Wednesday if Minister of Education Stephen Lecce agreed to return to the staffing levels that were present in the 2018-2019 school year. However, no progress has been announced on that front.
Lecce has referred to the union’s strike actions as “needless escalation that is hurting children, parents, and families.” He has also accused the union of not making a substantive move during bargaining, aside from insisting on a $1.5 billion increase in pay and benefits.
Teachers and education workers at public secondary schools have also been participating in a work-to-rule limited withdrawal of services since November 26, 2019. The OSSTF began staging rotating one-day strikes across the province on December 4 in response to what it called “a continued lack of progress at the bargaining table.”
Schools will reopen and student transportation is expected to resume on Thursday.
-With files from Maureen Revait