Your child's school will look at little different starting Tuesday as two of Ontario's largest teacher unions begin to try and turn the heat up on the Ford government.
The unions representing public high school and elementary school teachers will launch work to rule campaigns hoping to pressure the province to support their proposals at the bargaining table.
Both OSSTF and ETFO are in a legal strike position, but need to give five days notice if they plan to walk off the job. For now, they will begin with a work-to-rule campaign that the unions insist will target school administration, not students.
As of Tuesday public elementary teachers will:
• NOT participate in any school board or Ministry of Education professional learning offered outside of the instructional day (including online or face-to-face professional learning);
• NOT participate in activities related to the Fundamentals of Math Strategy;
• NOT participate in any Ministry of Education online training or webinars;
• NOT participate in any EQAO-related activities;
• NOT participate in any way in the development of the Math Proficiency Test for faculty of education students;
• NOT participate in school board activities on Professional Activity (PA) Days – ETFO members will work in their assigned worksites on their own self-directed activities;
• NOT attend staff/division/grade team meetings;
• NOT participate in school board/school improvement planning activities
• NOT respond to electronic communications from the school administrator/direct supervisor for non-school-based staff, outside of the instructional day (unless for reasons o of personal/student safety, an OT accepting work, or support for students with special needs);
• NOT participate on any school board writing team or in school board curriculum/resource development;
• NOT complete Term 1 Report Cards – teachers WILL provide the school administrator with a class list of marks for the various subjects/strands taught, or one brief comment per frame for the Kindergarten Communication of Learning;
• NOT undertake the role of report card administrator;
• NOT file the Progress Report, the Term 1 Report Card or the Kindergarten Communication of Learning.
The union says "ETFO’s strike action is incremental in nature. This strike action will continue until the labour dispute is satisfactorily resolved or ETFO’s Provincial Executive deems that further actions are required."
As of Tuesday public high school teachers will end:
• Participation in EQAO preparation or testing
• Completion/Submission of Ministry of Education Data Reports
• Participation in School Board Professional Activities that are based on Ministry of Education or School Board Initiatives
• Participation in unpaid staff meetings outside the regular school day
• Providing comments on any secondary provincial report cards
• Will not perform the work of another Bargaining Unit, even if directed by administration
OSSTF says it's members will also "engage in information pickets before or after school, or during lunch periods, designed to educate the public about the Ford government’s destructive plans for Ontario’s publicly-funded education system, and the negative effect those plans will have on the learning environment for students all across the province. The information pickets will not disrupt the regular school day and will have no effect on students in the classroom. Educators will simply distribute information to parents and to the general public."
Ontario's English Catholic school teachers have voted in favour of strike action if necessary, but talks with the province continue. If talks break down that could trigger a 17 day countdown to the union being in a legal strike position, but that process hasn't started yet.