Smooth start to school year as no strike action looms

As students return to school this month, teachers are currently working under an expired contract – but strike action is not in the cards.

In March, unions went to the Ontario government to begin negotiations for a new contract; however they were told the government had no interest in bargaining.

Mike De Rose, president of the Trillium Lakelands Elementary Teacher Local, said he’s confident the school year will start smoothly. “We are not (in a strike position) yet because our negotiations have stalled.”

Currently, the Ontario Labour Relations Board is deciding what will happen next, which could take weeks or even months to make a ruling on.

De Rose said one major issue is the inability to agree on what is negotiated centrally or locally. For example, the needs of a Toronto school board differ from TLDSB. “If those end up on the central table, our fear is that our local voice will be lost. The things that make us unique as a school board won’t be considered.”

Essentially, the province wants to enforce the same regulations for every school board, without taking into account the needs of each individual board.

Nora Shaughnessy, area four vice president for the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said educators want to be able to give students the best education they can, but current conditions make it hard to do. “Our public schools are in a crisis due to understaffing and underfunding. Students’ needs are higher than ever before. As the frontline workers, we want to create a learning environment where students can thrive.”

“Bottom line is students are not getting the support they need because education workers, across the province, are stretched far beyond their levels,” Shaughnessy said.

De Rose echoes this, saying class sizes have gotten too big. “Our members are finding that with increasing numbers of special needs students in the system, and the lack of supports that families and these students have access to outside of the school system, means the needs don’t go anywhere.”

He said it’s not uncommon for classrooms to have multiple students with individual education plans and safety plans. “With dwindling human resources and funding in the system, help is not on the way.”

This, De Rose said, has led to more teachers getting burnt out and taking sick leaves, making the issue of understaffing worse.

As well, students are back in class with new policies in place, including an increased focus on attendance as part of students’ final grades, and mandatory examinations in almost all classes. “There’s a lack of clarity as to how those are going to be implemented,” De Rose said.

Carolynne Bull, manager of communications services for Trillium Lakelands District School Board said a strike is never something the board wants to see happen. “At TLDSB, there are seven collective agreements across different unions and federations, and we are fortunate to have positive working relationships with these groups. TLDSB remains optimistic that agreements will be reached and updated collective agreements will be made in a timely manner.”

De Rose said the hope is to avoid going on strike. “Students and their families should really not be impacted at this point, or any point in the future. We’re going to be doing our best for students…We will continue to work with the government to try to reach a deal that doesn’t involve any work action.”