Secondary School Teachers’ Union Walking Off The Job Tuesday
OSSTF One-Day Strike Affecting Simcoe County Public and Catholic Board
The province’s secondary school teachers’ union has announced another one-day strike coming up on Tuesday, January 21st, and will affect the Simcoe County District School Board and Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.
OSSTF will hold a one-day walkout in some boards on Jan. 21 if a tentative agreement is not reached. The SCDSB is one of those boards.
— Simcoe County DSB (@SCDSB_Schools) January 15, 2020
If it proceeds, all SCDSB secondary schools & adult learning centres will be closed to students on Jan. 21.
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“If the Minister of Education is truly focused, as he incessantly claims, on keeping kids in class, then he will accept our offer and come back to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith,” said OSSTF President Harvey Bischof. “But the evidence is mounting that this government’s priorities have nothing to do with the well-being of students. The Doug Ford secret plan for e-learning implementation, which came to light this week, reveals a government whose obsessions are exclusively fiscal.”
“While parents are frustrated by teacher union escalation every few years, it is unacceptable that OSSTF would ramp up strike action at a time when high school students are preparing for exams,” said Education Minister Stephen Lecce, “I will continue to focus on reaching voluntary agreements with the teachers’ unions, so Ontario students stay in class where they belong.”
Related: Catholic School Teachers To Hold One Day Strike
The walkout comes on the same day the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association plans to hold a day-long strike, and a day after the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario plans to hold job action that does not affect Simcoe County or Muskoka schools.
The OSSTF represents educators with the Public School Board, along with educational assistants, early childhood educators, and maintenance staff with the Catholic Board.