Some Rainbow teachers in legal strike position in late April

Local talks began this winter, but they've moved at a “snail's pace,” said James Clyke, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation unit that represents about 500 Rainbow District School Board high school teachers.

He said he's only been granted one day of bargaining so far on behalf of the full-time and occasional teachers.

Clyke said school boards complained of being left out of the negotiation process in 2012, when contracts were ultimately imposed on teachers.

“Now they have the opportunity to come to the bargaining table, and I'm finding it very difficult to get them there,” Clyke said.

The OSSTF has issued a no board report on behalf of teachers at Peel District School Board, Durham District School Board, Halton District School Board, Lakehead District School Board, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and Waterloo Region District School Board. (An earlier version of this story stated a no-board report had had been issued on behalf of Rainbow School Board, as well. That was not correct.)

“There's a number of districts around the province that have been identified as areas of concerns,” Clyke said.

Teachers will be in a legal strike position in 17 days. Clyke said that could mean anything from a full strike to withdrawing their supervision of extracurricular activities.

He said the idea is to put pressure on school boards to bargain with the OSSTF.

This story will be updated.