OSSTF announce another one-day strike, affecting eight school boards

Ontario secondary school teachers will be holding another one-day strike next Wednesday, marking the fourth time secondary school teachers have walked out on the job in just over a month.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) announced that Limestone District School Board (LDSB) teachers will be one of eight school boards participating in a one-day strike on Jan. 8.

Six thousand students from the LDSB will be affected by the one-day strike.

The other seven school boards that will be affected include:

• Renfrew County District School Board
• Peel District School Board
• District School Board of Niagara
• Algoma District School Board
• Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board
• Greater Essex County District School Board
• Avon Maitland District School Board

Andrea Loken, the president for the teacher’s bargaining unit for LDSB, says the Ontario government refuses to move from its position.

“We are continuing to keep pressure on the Ford government to oppose the cuts to education or the proposed future cuts to education.”

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The main issues continue to be the government wanting to increase class sizes and implement e-learning classes.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce continues to say the government is on the side of the students and parents. In a statement released by his department on Friday, Lecce says:

“We will continue to vigorously champion the interests of students and seek stability for parents in 2020 who are frustrated and tired of the union-led escalation that began in 2019.”

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However, Loken says the strike is a small price to pay to protect the quality of education.

“We understand and recognize that this is a disruption to student learning and it’s not ideal. However, the disruption that will occur and permanent damage that will occur to education if the government cuts go through it will be absolutely devastating,”

In the meantime, negotiations between the province and the teacher’s federation will continue.

Loken says the OSSTF made an offer to the government to postpone strikes on Wednesday if the province doesn’t change the current teacher staffing ratio.

The current ratio is one teacher for 22 students, but the Ford government wants to increase that number to 28 students for each teacher.