Contract talks between Ontario teachers, unions stall ahead of first day

There are signs of trouble tonight for Ontario schools, with the start of the school year just a week away.

The provincial government’s contract talks with teachers’ unions have stalled with the unions demanding a massive investment in schools.

It’s been six years since Ontario faced a teachers’ strike in 2020.

But education union contracts expired at midnight Monday night and workers say when school starts next week they’re going to be facing the same old frustration from a lack of government investment in schools.

“We’re going to see some of the same chaos, the same lack of support, the same struggling students, the same frustrated educators that we saw for the last seven or eight years,” says David Mastin from the Elementary Teachers Foundation.

Their dispute right now is over which contract issues will be negotiated locally or provincially.

They’re waiting for the Ontario Labour Board to rule before negotiations begin again, with possible strike action looming.

“We’re on a path that I don’t know how you avoid having labour disruptions,” Mastin says.

Education Minister Paul Calandra is more optimistic.

“I fully expect that there is an opportunity for the government and the unions to come to an agreement. We’ll be working on that. I don’t expect any labour challenges. I think students will be in the schools for a number of months going ahead,” says Calandra.

But no firm predictions.

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The opposition at Queen’s Park says this is a broken promise.

“The Minister of Education promised that he would get a contract by Labour Day. So here we are with uncertainty and frankly a lot of chaos facing families,” says Ontario NDP Leader, Marit Stiles.

But with school starting up, the government is addressing some concerns of parents, like the plan to make attendance part of a student’s high school marks.

Calandra says things like sports or band practice, even family vacations, won’t be a problem as long as parents tell the schools.

“This isn’t targeting those kids who are busy and doing the right thing. What this is about is those kids who don’t have an excused absence from their parents and sometimes their parents don’t even know that they’re skipping a class,” says Calandra.

The Hamilton Catholic board thinks it’ll work.

“We expect most absences will be excused absences. So all the sports stuff and things like that will not be impacted at all,” says David Hansen from Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board.

The government is also creating a new Student and Family Support Office for every school board for parents to express their concerns.

“As of today, if you are a parent anywhere in Ontario and you have a concern that hasn’t been addressed by your child’s teacher or principal there is a clear path for you to go and there are clear expectations for what happens next,” says Calandra.

“These offices are required to provide an acknowledgement within two days and to provide an answer within five days, unless it’s of course a very complex issue.”

Calandra says this new Family Support Office system will also relieve the pressure on teachers as they go back to school next week, when they’re not able to give parents the answers they’re looking for.

READ MORE: Ontario expands school board support offices to solve issues faster