#OneDayStrike; #OntarioSchools; #PCParty; #OSSTF

Ottawa, Dec 17 (Canadian-Media): A decision was taken by public high school teachers and education workers of 10 school boards in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to hold one-day strike on Wednesday after the contract talks between Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and the province of Ontario broke off,  media reports said.

GTA teachers strike/Twitter

In a statement, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce expressed his frustration and disappointed by the union's coming forward at the bargaining table with no new proposals, no changes to their position, and no ideas on how to advance negotiations.

Progressive Conservative (PC) government had been blamed by OSSTF for the lack of progress in their negotiations affecting the teachers who are without any contract, as their last contract expired at the end of August.

A spokesperson for the Ontario Public School Boards' Association had told CBC Toronto that negotiations will not begin again until January.

Union said the issues were class sizes, mandatory online courses and funding cuts, where as the Ontario education ministry said the main issue was compensation.

The school boards that will be affected with the strike on Wednesday are; Lakehead District School Board; Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board; Lambton Kent District School Board; Thames Valley District School Board; Waterloo Region District School Board; Waterloo Catholic District School Board; York Region District School Board; York Catholic District School Board; Halton District School Board; and Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. Several French school boards are also expected to be affected.

#OSTFStrike; #OntarioTeachers; #Ontario; #OntarioSecondarySchoolTeachers


Ottawa, Dec 4 (Canadian-Media): Public high schools across Ontario are shut down today as the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) launched the strike at midnight Tuesday night following another failed negotiations with the government, media reports said. ​

OSSTF on Strike/Twitter

This is the first time since 1997 its members have gone on strike, although the union has had difficulty in negotiations with previous provincial governments. 

Some 40,000 high school teachers and 20,000 support staff represented by the union walked off the job Wednesday.

Schools shut down by the one-day walkout include those at these boards: TDSB; Peel District School Board; York Region District School Board; Durham District School Board; Waterloo Region District School Board; Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board; MonAvenir Catholic School Board; Thames Valley District School Board in London; Ottawa-Carleton District School Board; Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board and Lakehead Public Schools.

The OSSTF has been without a contract since the end of August and started a work-to-rule campaign last week. ​ 

Stephen Lecce, Ontario Education Minister has not succeeded so far in reaching a deal with the province's teachers' unions.