Ontario’s public elementary teachers are upping the pressure on the provincial government, launching a work-to-rule campaign in two weeks that their union says won’t impact students.The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario will hold meetings with local union districts “to prepare members for a work-to-rule strike action that begins on Tuesday, November 26, 2019,” a news release said Thursday morning. “The action targets (education) ministry and school board administrative tasks and does not impact on students.”The teachers, however, won’t be filling out report cards — instead providing principals with a list of marks and, for kindergarten students, short comments.The union remains at the negotiating table with the province and school board associations, and recently received a near-unanimous strike mandate from members.Union President Sam Hammond said “we are making this known well in advance to assure parents that this strike action will not affect students, their learning or their safety.”He said ditching administrative tasks — which could include refusing to attend staff meetings or ministry workshops — will give his 83,000 members “more time to focus on working with students.”“Our goal is to turn up the heat on Premier Ford and his education minister, Stephen Lecce. It’s critical that they finally come to contract talks prepared to address the real issues of concern: more supports for students with special needs, the protection of Ontario’s Kindergarten program and critical issues like addressing violence in schools.”News of the work-to-rule comes a day after Ontario’s Catholic teachers released their strike vote results, with 97.1 per cent voting in favour of job action.Their union does not yet have a legal strike date.“The message we have sent to the government is loud and clear: Catholic teachers will not accept any agreement ...
|
