The president of the English Catholic teachers union from Moosonee to Timmins and Cobalt says work-to-rule tactics won’t directly affect students.
Louis Clausi says his group and the Northeastern Catholic District School Board have yet to work out the local portion of the provincial contract settled that year.
What he calls “strike sanctions” will take effect on Monday.
“The teachers are teaching each day, so we can put that to rest, and there’s supervision each day, so there’s no safety issues, there’s no instructional issues,” Clausi outlines. “Most of the strike sanctions won’t impact on parents and students. They won’t even notice.”
“We are not attending meetings, we’re not doing board training, we’re leaving school 15 minutes after the school is to be emptied. Some teachers are not doing re-assignments that happen often, etc.”
If this doesn’t pressure the board into negotiating, Clausi says the action will be stepped up, although when and what it will include has yet to be determined.
…And from the board’s side, director Tricia Stefanic Weltz: “Certainly, the Northeastern OECTA is in a legal strike position and so we respect the bargaining process.”
Weltz confirms that schools will be open on Monday, and the board will monitor the situation closely to minimize any impact on students and families. She adds that the board wants to return to negotiating.
“I am not sure of the dates but I know that we are committed to resolving the issue with our permanent teachers,” she states.
Those outstanding issues include the redundancy clause in the contract… as well as recall and seniority rights.
