Strike deadline looms at Rainbow board

The school board has already announced all instructional programs for grades 9 to 12 would be cancelled, and all Rainbow secondary schools would be closed to students if teachers strike on Monday.

The OSSTF and the Rainbow board are due to meet again April 22. Rainbow said it's also contacted a mediator to help with negotiations through the weekend, if necessary.

The two sides have only met a handful of times since February, when boards were given permission to start local negotiations with teachers' unions.

Ontario teachers' contracts expired Aug. 31, 2014. The province, teachers' unions and school board associations met for several months to work out what issues would be negotiated provincially and locally.

OSTTF district 3 president James Clyke, who represents about 500 Rainbow board high school teachers, said the union has offered the board a total of 15 negotiation dates, but have only met a couple of times so far.

He said he's not sure the board is taking negotiations seriously. But even though time's running short, “anything can happen” in negotiations, Clyke said.

“Our goal is to always come to a collective agreement,” he said. “I'm always hopeful that we'd be able to collectively bargain with the school board in order to come to a fair deal before any strike action occurred.

“I'm not quite sure if that's going to happen, but I can say that when we're at the table this week, that's going to be our goal.”

Rainbow board director of education Norm Blaseg said “there's always hope” a deal will be signed, and remains committed to negotiations.

He admits the situation is difficult, though, not least because there's a lot of confusion about what's a provincial issue and what's a local issue.

Blaseg said Rainbow can't negotiate on any monetary issues, and only has control over issues such as grievance procedures and job postings.

“It's better to be sitting at the table to have this conversation rather than using a picket line to establish some clarity,” he said.

When asked what he has to say to parents and students about the possibility of a strike, Clyke said there's no denying it's a difficult situation.

“But what we're doing as a union is we're working to try and maintain working conditions ... for our teachers,” he said.

“But at the same time, those working conditions turn into learning conditions of students, and if our working conditions are eroded, so are the learning conditions of the students and the children.

“So we should really keep that in mind, because what we're really doing here is standing up for the learning conditions of the students.”

If OSSTF members strike, programs for grade 7 and 8 students at Chelmsford Valley District Composite School and Lively District Secondary School will continue. Details about any contingency plans for these students will be shared at a later date.

Buses for secondary students will not operate. Buses will continue their routes for elementary students only. Community use of schools, in the evenings and on weekends, will continue as scheduled.

Additional information will be provided to students and parents/guardians through letters, phone messages, the board website and the media.
Updates will be posted on rainbowschools.ca.