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Public elementary schools hit hardest this week as tensions escalate between province, teachers’ unions
THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay students are set to miss up to three days of school this week due to strike actions, as tensions escalate between the Ontario government and all four of the province’s major teachers’ unions.
Public elementary schools will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this week. Wednesday will see elementary teachers with the Lakehead school board take part in a rotating one-day strike, while Thursday’s walkout is a province-wide action by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
In a Saturday press release, the board said elementary schools will now also be closed Tuesday due to a rotating strike by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF). While that union primarily represents public high school teachers, it also includes student support workers and early childhood educators at local elementary schools, leading to the closure.
Talks between the province and the ETFO broke down Friday after briefly resuming last week.
Public high schools in the Lakehead board will also close Tuesday due to the OSSTF strike, as will the Lakehead Adult Education Centre. Those facilities will be open the remainder of the week.
Meanwhile, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) is holding its own province-wide strike Tuesday, which will close all Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board locations. Talks between the OECTA and the province are set to resume Monday, but union leaders said the strike will proceed as planned.
Class size, support for students with special needs, and addressing violence in schools are said to be significant issues in ongoing bargaining. The unions are also objecting to legislation passed by the province that caps salary increases at one per cent for the next three years, which labour leaders say infringes on their bargaining rights.
The union representing teachers at Ontario’s French-language schools are also in talks with the province, but have announced no job actions.