KITCHENER -- With public elementary school teachers set to walk out three days over the course of two weeks, many families will be scrambling for childcare.
After almost 40 days since the last bargaining session between the union and the province, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario announced it is ready to ramp up labour action, meaning the possibility of back-to-back strike days.
Some parents tell CTV News that they felt they had no choice but to take the day off on Monday as the rotating ETFO strike hit the region.
For some people, like hair stylist Sandy Seegers, the effects of the strike are two-fold.
"Parents have to cancel their own hair appointments in order to take care of their own kids, so it's affecting everybody, because then I'm losing out on a paycheque as well," she explains.
David Mirie is a parent, too. He used a vacation day on Monday to look after his child.
He says that parents take the biggest hit from the strikes.
"As a parent, I feel like, 'hey guys, can you sort this thing out quickly? Can we just move on, can the kids get back to school? Can I get back to work normally?'" he says.
Some parents put their children into day programs like those run at Owl Child Care.
It offered full-day programs at its five locations across the region, but those sites ran at 50 per cent capacity or less.
That could change, though, if the strike escalates.
"Next week we anticipate, since we're only running three sites, that we'll have higher numbers into next week," explains Executive Director Lori Prospero.
The cities of Waterloo and Kitchener both say they're prepared to offer a strike camp next week if necessary, but staff members are still looking into the details.
