TORONTO -- Ontario's public high school teachers at select boards across the province will hold another one-day strike next week.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) announced on Friday that the Jan. 8 strike will affect eight school boards.
The union said that on the same day, members in other school boards will hold information pickets in front of schools, at MPPs offices and in other location in the province.
"After more than eight months of negotiations, the minster of education is still committed to the Doug Ford agenda of larger class sizes, mandatory e-learning, and then ongoing erosion of crucial supports and services our most vulnerable students rely on," OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said in a news release.
"Our job action next Wednesday will affect some school boards for one day, but the Ford government’s policies, if we are not able to reverse them, will continue to create chaos in the education system for years to come."
The school boards affected by the strike include:
- Algoma District School Board
- Huron-Superior Catholic School Board
- Greater Essex County District School Board
- Avon Maitland District School Board
- Peel District School Board
- Limestone District School Board
- Renfrew County District School Board
While the two sides have been bargaining for months, negotiators have been deadlocked on several issues.
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.
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce released a statement on Friday afternoon saying the strike is "unfair to students and their families."
“Parents have been clear: strikes by unions hurt kids and that investments should go to support student success, not towards enhanced compensation. We agree with Ontario parents. This is why 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."
