Job action does not jeopardize student safety: ETFO

A teacher is seen in a classroom in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 18, 2015.

The union representing Ontario’s public elementary teachers says it will not take any work-to-rule strike action that would jeopardize students’ safety.

In statement released on Saturday, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario said its teachers are “continuing to provide daily instruction to students and have the safety of their students as a prime objective.”

The statement comes as a response to recent letter by the Ontario Principals’ Council accusing the EFTO’s work-to-rule campaign of creating unsafe conditions for students.

“If a teacher is absent, it is up to the administration to call in an occasional (supply) teacher as they would normally do and there are certainly many occasional teachers ready to work at a moment’s notice,” said ETFO president Sam Hammond.

“I can only surmise that principals are not adhering to this practice as a way of undermining ETFO’s legal work-to-rule action.”

Hammond said that under the union’s work-to-rule strike action, teachers will not replace an absent teacher. But if directed by a school administrator, a teacher will take the class “under protest” to “ensure that students are not left unattended.”

The solution, Hammond said, is for the EFTO, the provincial government and the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association to return to the bargaining table in order to reach a deal.

“Our strike action was designed to ensure that teachers continue to provide daily instruction to their students. If administrators are being inconvenienced by our work-to-rule then they should press the government and OPSBA to return as quickly as possible to the bargaining table.”

ETFO began Phase 3 of the work-to-rule on Monday. Members of ETFO have been without contracts for a year, and have been in a legal strike position since May.

As of Sept. 21, the union's 78,000 teachers and occasional teachers says they willno longer:

Teachers willalso take part in "Wynne Wednesdays" once a week, when they will:

The ETFO bulletin also outlined the union's "Phase 4" plans for October, when all ETFO teachers and occasional teachers could begin rotating strikes, "if sufficient progress has not occurred."

The bulletin said further details would be released later.