As first reported in Friday’s Daily Bulletin, high school teachers in Fort Frances, Rainy River, and Atikokan last Wednesday voted overwhelmingly in support of strike action to back their contract demands.
Teachers represented by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation District 5B voted 98.9 percent in favour of taking strike action if headway isn’t made at the bargaining table.
Brian Church, president of the local bargaining unit, said he believes that was the highest percentage in the province.
“Basically, it shows that the teachers are overwhelmingly united,” he said. “It shows everyone is together on this. We’re just hoping for a a fair agreement.”
Contract talks late last month between the teachers and the Rainy River District School Board, with a conciliator present, made no progress, prompting the union to file a “no board” report and schedule the strike vote.
“That’s just part of the negotiation process,” said Warren Hoshizaki, director of education for the Rainy River District School Board.
The situation here certainly isn’t unique as school boards across the province, including in Kenora and Thunder Bay, face similar situations. Teachers overwhelmingly have voted in favour of strike action in all cases, with negotiations ongoing.
Back in December, the provincial government released the Rozanski Report, which stated the education system was being under-funded by $2 billion.
In the report, it was recommended that money be made available immediately—in the current school year—to put towards the collective bargaining process, among other things.
The government listened, announcing that $340 million would be transferred to school boards for that process—reflecting a three percent wage/benefit increase.
The local public school board received an additional $600,000 to support the collective bargaining process—reflecting a 2.7 percent increase.
“The government has given us basically three percent from Rozanski, so we’re going to the table and are hopeful,” said Hoshizaki.
The next scheduled round of talks are slated Feb. 20-21.
“We’re still hopeful a deal can be made on the 20th and 21st,” said Church. “We know the board has the means to settle this without strike action . . . if the board is willing to talk.”
Now that the “no board” report has been filed, teachers here will be in legal strike position on Feb. 21—17 days after it was official.
But Church admitted they would still be in negotiations at that point and that “realistically” the earliest they would consider taking job action would be Monday, Feb. 24.
“The final decision isn’t made about what will happen,” he stressed. “If negotiations start moving forward, we’ll postpone [action].
“If not, we’ll probably start with a work to rule, then more.
“Technically it wouldn’t be a true work to rule that we would go to,” qualified Church. “It would be some sort of action, but not a full-blown strike at first.
“A full-blown walk out would be definitely possible,” he remarked. “A lot of it hinges on how the negotiations go.”
“It’s not our intent to disrupt the students lives,” Church added, indicating extra-curricular activities may not be the first to feel job action. “We don’t want to disrupt normal school operations.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
