Catholic school teachers move closer to legal strike position
Published December 5, 2019 at 3:27 pm
A ‘no-board’ report has been issued with respect to negotiations between the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), the Government of Ontario, and Catholic school board trustees.
On Thursday (Dec. 5), OECTA issued a press release via Twitter announcing their receipt of the no-board report.
The release of this report means Catholic teachers will be in a legal strike position as of December 21.
“As has become abundantly clear this week, Ontarians recognize the Ford government is not listening to their concerns, or treating publicly funded education with the respect it deserves,” said OECTA president Liz Stuart in the release.
A no-board report has been issued, putting #CatholicTeachers in a legal strike position as of Dec 21. As we go back to the bargaining table, the government needs to get serious about abandoning their cuts and reaching an agreement. Read the full release: https://t.co/F05eTnIBbS. pic.twitter.com/vomkB9SnvC
— Catholic Teachers (@OECTAProv) December 5, 2019
“This ‘no-board’ should serve as another wake-up call for Premier Ford and Minister Lecce that it is time to get their act together.”
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The Association has not made any determinations at this time about possible strike action. However, OECTA members recently voted 97.1 per cent in favour of taking strike action if necessary.
“Our Association has two days of bargaining scheduled this week, and two more next week,” Stuart said. “We sincerely hope the government’s negotiating team will come to the table with a mandate to abandon the cuts and reach an agreement.”
OECTA represents the 45,000 teachers in Ontario’s publicly funded English Catholic schools, from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
“As was reaffirmed this week by the OECD, Ontario’s publicly funded education system ranks among the best in the world,” Stuart said. “Catholic teachers have been working hard to negotiate an agreement that will keep it that way.”
The report comes a day after public high school teachers staged a one-day strike across the province.
While teachers are back in classrooms Thursday, an administrative work-to-rule campaign is still underway and the threat of more walkouts looms if contract talks remain stalled.
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