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The union representing the province’s public English elementary school teachers is expected to announce today whether its members have voted in favour of a strike mandate amid negotiations with the province.
On Tuesday, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) wrapped up a series of strike votes held across the province over the past month and the union is expected to announce the results later today.
Strike votes were called by ETFO and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) in September after both unions rejected the province’s offer to take outstanding issues at the bargaining table to binding arbitration.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) is the only one of the four main teachers’ unions that agreed to the province’s offer.
Last month, nearly 80 per cent of OSSTF members voted in favour of a deal with the government to continue contract talks until Oct. 27 before sending any remaining items to an arbitrator. The agreement means that the union will not take strike action while trying to hammer out the details of its latest collective agreement.
OECTA is holding its strike votes on Wednesday and Thursday.
During a news conference last month, Education Minister Stephen Lecce urged the other unions to accept the province’s arbitration offer.
Lecce said that OSSTF members “overwhelmingly” supported the province’s proposal, noting that eight in 10 members voted in favour of it.
“The people of Ontario support this proposal. The membership of one of the largest unions supports this proposal. And so therefore we would reasonably expect the other unions to work with us quickly, end the delay. Let’s sign a deal that keeps these kids in school,” Lecce said.
In a joint statement released in August, ETFO, OECTA, and AEFO said entering into binding arbitration “would not support students” and it would “all but guarantee” that key issues brought forward at their respective bargaining tables “would not be addressed.”
“The Ford Conservative government has continually refused to engage in substantive discussions with our unions, despite our many attempts to make progress at our respective bargaining tables,” the statement, released on Aug. 25, read.
“We once again call on the government to respect our right to free and fair collective bargaining, and come to our bargaining tables prepared to engage in meaningful discussions about critical issues facing publicly funded education in Ontario – issues such as increased violence in schools, resources and supports for student mental health, teachers’ use of professional judgement, and addressing the teacher shortage.”
When it comes to public support, internal government polling provided to CTV News Toronto suggests that the majority of Ontarians may not be supportive of strike action.
The polling, conducted by Leger on behalf of the Ford government between Sept. 28 and Oct. 3, shows that about 68 per cent of respondents believe teachers unions should accept binding arbitration to avoid a strike.
About 46 per cent of respondents said they would hold teacher unions mostly responsible if a strike were to occur, the online poll of 1,035 people found, while about 34 per cent said they would hold the province responsible.
More than half of respondents said they would support the use of legislation to stop teachers from going forward with strikes that would result in school closures. It should be noted that online polls do not provide a margin of error.
With files from CTV News Toronto’s Katherine DeClerq
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