Work-to-rule resumes at English public elementary schools

With the new school year comes the return of a work-to-rule campaign by the province's English public elementary teachers.

While tentative deals were worked out over the summer between the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Federation (OECTA), the same is not true of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

Meetings between the ETFO and the province last week did not result in a deal. Talks restart today.

“Although a deal has not yet been reached, progress has been made with the assistance of the mediator who has confirmed that the parties will resume face-to-face discussions on Tuesday,” said Education Minister Liz Sandals in a press release issued Friday.

“We have been assured by ETFO that students will start school on Tuesday as scheduled and that they will not experience a disruption to the start of the school year.”

The ETFO has been engaging in work-to-rule since last spring, and is escalating its action today, with the first day of school. Union members will still participate in extracurriculars, but won't do things such as participate in field trips or collect money for school-related activities.

Meanwhile, support workers at Ontario schools will enter the first stage of job action Sept. 10. The CUPE members will start work-to-rule during the first week of classes.

The province’s French teacher union, represented by L’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, or AEFO, has no job action planned, although it too is in negotiations.

While deals are being worked out at a provincial level, there's still local-level deals to contend with.

Last spring, OSSTF members who work for the Rainbow board, as well as two other OSSTF locals, went on strike against the board for a month before being ordered back to work by the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

As a result of that strike, the province passed the Protecting the School Year Act, which included provisions forcing involved school boards and local unions to come to an arbitrated settlement.

Over the Labour Day weekend, the Rainbow board and OSSTF District 3 worked together with the assistance of mediation and have agreed to implement the award of the arbitration panel.

The arbitration panel, created as a result of the Protecting the School Year Act (Bill 103), issued a unanimous decision. The award replaces a negotiated settlement and does not require ratification by either party.

The award resolves all of the local bargaining issues for the permanent secondary teachers’ bargaining unit. Mediation will commence in late September with OSSTF for the secondary occasional teachers’ bargaining unit.

"This local decision, along with the tentative settlement at the central table, will bring renewed peace and stability in our secondary schools,” said Rainbow District School Board chair Doreen Dewar, in a press release.

“This is good news for our students, parents/guardians and staff. We are very encouraged by the spirit of collaboration and co-operation by both parties in this mediation process."