Public elementary school teachers continue job action
Educators won't conduct meet-the-teacher nights, plan field trips or collect money from students
It's time for students to get back to school, which means it's also time for some teachers to renew their push for a new provincial contract by restarting job actions.
"For students and parents, I don't think they're going to see any difference this Tuesday than any other first day of school in the past years," said Barb Blasutti, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (EFTO) for the Sudbury area.
However, parents may begin to notice changes in the coming days and weeks. Without a contract, public elementary school teachers will be starting their second phase of job action.
Teachers won't conduct meet-the-teacher nights, plan field trips or collect money from students for pizza days and fundraisers.
Teachers with the ETFO, which represents some 76,000 members, have been in a legal strike position since May 10. Provincial negotiations broke down a day later.
There are four sticking points for the ETFO in negotiations with the province: wages, class size, preparation time and hiring practices. Talks resume today.
Support staff, other teachers
Educational support staff are also without a contract and will begin implementing job actions Thursday. Early childhood educators, custodians and clerical staff won't work through breaks or stay late without pay.
"The workload has increased substantially in the last few years," said local CUPE Local 4148 president Vicky Evans, who represents educational support workers with the Catholic school board.
"A lot of our clerical members were working an hour to two hours overtime everyday without getting paid just to stay on top of their jobs," she added.
French teachers in the province also need a new contract, but no imminent job actions have been announced from their camp as negotiations with government officials continue.
English high school teachers and Catholic teachers do have settlements in place, but they don't yet have agreements hammered out with their local boards. That means they will also work to rule.