THUNDER BAY – The director of education at the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board says elementary teachers were given everything they’d asked for during December labour talks.
But now the board is being told it’s still not enough.
After a marathon bargaining session and 30 hours without sleep, Pino Tassone said the board has no more room to give when it comes to internal staffing measures, the lone issue left on the table preventing a new contract.
On Thursday the union representing the teachers said they are left with no choice but to walk off the job in a series of rotating strikes.
The board responded later in the day with the threat of a lockout, saying they have to take the safety of their students into consideration and 24 hours notice isn’t enough time to inform parents a particular school or schools will be impacted by a walkout.
Tassone said the board agreed to consider teaching experience when hiring internally, as well as modifying the criteria to allow a little more leniency when shifting teachers from school to school and job to job.
“They want to be involved and controlling what the criteria was,” Tassone said, “which means they want control of who we staff.
“It’s extremely frustrating. I don’t even have words to explain because we know work to rule will continue. They’ve threatened now to look at rotating strikes, possibly on Monday or Tuesday. Now we have some decisions we have to make.”
Aldo Grillo, president of the Thunder Bay chapter of the Ontario Elementary Catholic Teachers’ Association countered, saying the staffing issue isn’t a small matter. Teachers have drawn a line and won’t be pushed any further, even with the threat of a lockout looming.
“Obviously that’s of great concern to the teachers as well as our bargaining committee. These are not small matters at all,” Grillo said in an interview with CKPR Radio. “The teachers understand what the issues are and … we’ve gotten to the point where it is a matter of respect
“What the teachers are asking for, and the negotiating team, is not unfounded in the province, much less in the city and even with this employer who has given the language and hiring practices to other employee groups within the school board.”
School board officials must give the union five days notice before locking teachers out. The union must give 24 hours notice ahead of the start of any rotating strike action.
Teachers have been in a legal strike position since last June and have been under a work-to-rule campaign since last fall.
