QUEEN'S PARK -- Ontario's public high school teachers will hold another one-day strike next week at select school boards amid an ongoing contract dispute with the Progressive Conservative government.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) said the one-day walkout will take place on Dec. 11 and will affect nine school boards – including the Toronto District School Board, which has the largest student population in the province.
At the same time, the union says, teachers will hold information pickets in front of schools province-wide and continue the administration-targeted work-to-rule campaign.
"Our efforts at the bargaining table and our job actions to this point have yielded virtually no progress," OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said in a statement.
"We have no choice but to continue our efforts."
Here is a list of school boards that will be affected on Dec 11.
- Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board
- Grand Erie District School Board
- Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board
- Near North District School Board
- Rainy River District School Board
- Simcoe County District School Board
- Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board
- Toronto District School Board
- Trillium Lakelands District School Board
Speaking ahead of the OSSTF announcement at Queen's Park, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that the continuing job action was "unacceptable."
“In over 200 days OSSTF has not put forward any changes to their (initial) proposal,” Lecce said. “Student success should never be the casualty of union escalation.”
While the two sides have been bargaining for months, negotiators have been deadlocked on several issues for weeks.
MORE: What parents need to know about strike action in Ontario schools
The union wants the government to reverse its plans to increase high school class sizes to a provincial ratio of 25:1 and to cancel its mandatory e-learning program, set to begin in September 2020.
The government, meanwhile, wants the union to accept a one per cent per year salary increase, instead of the two per cent the union has requested.
