LACHINE – After two nights of voting and 276 ballots cast, the vote is in and work-to-rule is over for the Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB).
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Of the votes cast, 213 teachers voted to end the work-to-rule, while 63 voted to maintain it.
“Well, I think the teachers who did come and vote have shown the strong support to end the concerted actions against the collective agreement and I think, well I hope, that all teachers will follow up on that,” said union president John Donnelly.
In January, Pearson teachers voted to accept the government’s five-year contract, but they were the only English school board in the province that maintained the boycott of extra-curricular activities.
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Some Lester B. Pearson teachers want to end work-to-rule
Some teachers said they felt the contract was acceptable, but not ideal.
“People weren’t very happy about the offer and I think the acceptance was they really didn’t think they weren’t going to be getting anything better.”
The decision to both approve the contract and maintain the work-to-rule tactic angered and confused students, parents and even some teachers.
“I think people are now realizing that the contract was pretty well a done deal and it’s time to move on and go back to normal,”said Donnelly.
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For those who voted to end the work-to-rule action, they can’t wait to get back to their extra-curricular activities.
“It’s not a terrible contract,” said Bill Gray, a teacher at Cartier Adult Education.
“It’s not everything that we wanted, but we got some concessions and we made some concessions. We signed it, now we should go ahead and support the kids.”
“Let’s have our field trips, let’s have our plays and let’s not hang it over the kids’ heads right now.”
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