If central agreements between the Government of Ontario and the ETFO are not reached by Friday, members of the union will walk out on February 5th and 6th.
The ETFO announced today that they will be escalating their rotating strikes if an agreement is not reached.
The local walkout on Wednesday, February 5th, is part of a one-day strike that includes more than 5 other regions.
The walk-out planned on Thursday, February 6th however, is part of a province-wide one-day strike for all 83,000 union members.
Those 83,000 union members include elementary public school teachers, occasional teachers, and education professionals
ETFO President Sam Hammond announced in a media release that, from their perspective, fair contract talks must include appropriate funding for Special Education, a strategy to address classroom violence, maintaining their Kindergarten program, fair hiring practices, class sizes that meet the needs of elementary students and compensation that keeps up with inflation.
Hammond adds that between August and December of 2019, negotiators for the Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, have had no mandate to discuss their concerns.