Elementary teachers to launch job action Monday

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Public elementary teachers across the province start a work to rule campaign tomorrow. The union says this is the first phase of strike action, and if contract talks with the province don’t improve, teachers could be out of the classroom all together.

All of the teachers unions in the province are struggling with negotiations and all of them have been warning about potential job action. Three high school boards are currently on strike, and teachers are out on the picket lines.

Starting Monday, in all public elementary schools, teachers will be saying no to some administrative functions of their job.

Elementary teachers will not prepare comments on report cards, attend professional meetings, or do anything to facilitate province-wide testing for grades three and six students.

For now, schools will be open, extra-curriculars will continue, and field trips will go ahead, but the union says this is just the first phase of its incremental job action.

Other school boards in the province, including Catholic boards, have indicated that their talks are not going well either. The government has said it doesn’t want to increase spending, but the unions say the government is trying to cut spending by increasing class sizes and telling teachers how to use their preparation time.

Teachers can make up to $95,000 a year in Ontario.