With just weeks to go before the start of the school year and without a new collective agreement in place, Ontario’s teachers and education workers say job action isn’t off the table as negotiations hit an impasse. “All I can say right now, without a definitive answer, is we are going to fight on behalf of our members. We’re going to fight on behalf of students,” David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), said Monday. Mastin made the comment alongside leaders of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) and others at the start of ETFO’s annual meeting. The collective agreements for all of Ontario’s teachers and education workers unions expire on Aug. 31. Bargaining talks with the province have stalled for every union but OECTA over a dispute regarding which issues are negotiated with the province at a centralized versus local level. “This government wants to centralize almost everything, stripping away local voice, local community, local parents, and for us, that is a fundamental disagreement with this government,” OSSTF President Martha Hradowy said following Mastin’s remarks. “We have to get over the procedural hurdles. But I will say to Minister Calandra and Minister Ford, if you want peace and stability, if you want a public education system where every child can succeed: then let us bargain.” In early 2020, Ontario’s major education unions held a series of rotating one-day strikes as well as a provincewide walkout that took place on Feb. 21 of that year. The education unions eventually reached a new deal with the government in March 2020 against the backdrop of COVID-19 restrictions that resulted in schools pivoting to remote learning. In 2022, the unions were again without a contract but agreed to send outstanding issues to binding arbitration, which helped to stave off a strike. The Ford government, in turn, attempted to impose a contract on education workers represented by CUPE using the notwithstanding clause. Schools were shuttered for two days after the union walked off the job in protest of the decision. The Ford government then repealed the legislation about two weeks later. Mastin said, as it stands, Ontario’s education system is in “crisis” as his union and others work to address what he described as chronic underfunding, a reported attack on how many sick days teachers take, and conditions educators are facing inside the classroom. But, Mastin underscored that although strike action is under consideration, it’s not something he, his union or his contemporaries take lightly. “I think we would do these things one step at a time. We’re not going to jump to the final point and say this is where we’re going to end up. We’re hoping that if we do engage in the strike vote process, that that process does pressure the government to say our members are serious.” In a statement, the Ministry of Education said that “at this early stage of bargaining,” the first step is to determine what issues will be negotiated at central or local tables. “Those decisions are still underway, with some unions choosing to bring this matter to the Ontario Labour Relations Board,” a ministry spokesperson told CTV News, referring to the independent adjudicative tribunal. “We respect their decision to do so and at all times are ready to continue discussions on the scope of central versus local issues before proceeding to the next stage of negotiations.” Most Ontario public and Catholic schools return on Sept. 8.
