High school teachers in Timmins joined thousands of their peers across Ontario Wednesday in a one-day strike.
The one-day job action took place after the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and the provincial government failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.
At District School Board Ontario North East (DSB1), the OSSTF represents high school teachers, attendance counsellors child and youth workers, early childhood educators, educational assistants, social workers and Indigenous student advisors. For the strike, public elementary and high schools are closed.
“This is a culmination of the breakdown of talks between the OSSTF and the provincial government,” said J.P. Desilets, district president for OSSTF. “It’s about the quality of education.”
He emphasized that the job action is not about salary.
“What the government wants to do in upping the average class size to 25, people have to realize that we already have some classes that are in the 30s,” Desilets explained. “So, when you go from 22 to 25, like the government would like us to do, potentially you will have some class sizes in the 40s.”
He said some changes the government has proposed lacked promised consultation.
“If it was a true negotiation, that would be great,” he said. “But … changes to class sizes and imposing e-education on kids with no consultation whatsoever — that’s what this government said it was going to be all about (consultation). They haven’t consulted with the true stakeholders.
“There is a huge segment of the student population that would not be successful if they were thrown into an eLearning situation.”
Local union members weren’t alone on the picket lines.
Teachers from O’Gorman High School, which is open today, and representatives from OPSEU dropped off coffee to picketers.
And there was plenty of support honking going on as residents drove by picket lines set up outside of Timmins High and Vocational School, Ecole secondaire catholique Theriault (where the support workers are part of the union) and Roland Michener Secondary School.
Bill Newell, vice-president for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario Local ONE (Ontario North East), said educators are anxious to get on with bargaining.
“The government is sitting on their hands and not willing to negotiate,” Newell said. “OSSTF and ETFO, all the unions have been at the table wanting to bargain with the government. We’ve put forth proposals … and the government is not moving on anything.
“They’re saying that they are offering different things. No. There are still strips and there are still cuts. It doesn’t help the students in the classroom. “The government needs to realize that they’ve got to make an investment in students. They can’t be looking at just the bottom line today. If they don’t invest in students today, the bottom line is going to look a whole lot worse down the road.”
Tuesday evening, Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce issued a statement about negotiations.
“It has been over 200 days since we first started bargaining with the OSSTF and in that time, they have not made any substantive moves since their first proposal was tabled,” the statement read. “The onus is on the OSSTF to be reasonable, stay at the table and to cancel this needless escalation that is hurting children, parents, and families.” It is currently unknown what the next stage of job action will be if negotiations between the two sides are not successful.
“That’s to be determined,” Newell said. “It’s always fluid. Nothing is ever put down ‘this is what’s going to happen.’ It’s an as-it-goes-on basis, based on what the government is willing to do.”
