As contract talks remain stalled, Ontario’s public elementary teachers are ramping up their job action.
The Elementary Teachers’ Foundation of Ontario announced Thursday that all of its members will withdraw from voluntary extracurricular activities starting Oct. 28.
In an update provided to its members, ETFO says neither the province nor the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association have responded to ETFO requests to resume contract negotiations.
They say that they hope withdrawing activities will put pressure on those organizations to return to the table.
“We’re running out of options at this point,” Greg Weiler, the head of Waterloo Region’s ETFO chapter, said in an interview.
“Unfortunately, escalation seems to be the only thing that has worked to get the other parties back to the table.”
Education Minister Liz Sandals said earlier this week that the province has always been willing to resume contract talks.
Job action already underway includes teachers not preparing report card comments, conducting parent-teacher interviews or using their prep time as anything other than prep time.
ETFO is the last major teachers’ union not to have reached a deal on the provincial level. They have been working without a contract for 14 months.
The union has threatened rotating strikes if talks continue without progress.
That tactic is “still an option,” Weiler said.
Talks remain ongoing on the local level, a Waterloo Region District School Board spokesperson said Thursday.
With files from The Canadian Press
