The union representing Catholic school teachers in Ontario said Monday it will hold a one-day province-wide strike Tuesday, January 21 if a deal is not reached with the provincial government before then.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) made the announcement the same day it launched administrative job action to protest stalled contract talks.
A St. Anne teacher handing a pamphlet to a motorist during an information picket - Jan 13/20.
Catholic teachers held information pickets across Ontario Monday, including in Sarnia-Lambton.
The first phase of the work-to-rule campaign includes withdrawing from conducting standardized tests, completing report cards, and going on field trips.
OECTA, which represents both elementary and secondary Catholic teachers, said it has met with the government almost 40 times, and is accusing them of being "disorganized and disrespectful" throughout the process.
St. Anne Elementary School Teacher Kathyrn Curran said there are still a number of outstanding issues, including the protection of full-day kindergarten.
"It's not just about money," said Curran. "We're looking for things about class sizes. We are in a bigger school so sometimes that really affects us because we carry around the average number of students. We're also against cuts to any of the support workers in our schools."
The union represents 45,000 Catholic teachers across Ontario, including 790 at the St. Clair Catholic District School Board.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario has stopped supervising extra-curricular activities and taking part in field trips as of Monday, and it threatens full rotating one-day strikes starting January 20 if a deal is not reached.
Public high school teachers have another one-day strike set for this Wednesday at select boards in the province. Lambton-Kent is not included.
