Waterloo region to see 1-day elementary teacher strikes on Monday

Waterloo region will see elementary teachers walk off the job for a one-day strike on Monday if a deal is not reached with the province before then.

The Waterloo Region District School Board says schools will be closed on Monday if the strike moves ahead.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) announced Waterloo region will be impacted by Monday's job action, as well the school boards in Simcoe and Keewatin-Patricia.

ETFO has held one-day strikes each day this week.

Guelph and Wellington County have not yet been impacted by the strikes and are not on the list for Monday.

The union saysthe province is not getting back to the bargaining table, noting the last bargaining session was on Dec. 19.

Education 'can't be hijacked'

Greg Weiler,president of the ETFO Waterloo Region, says there are 106 elementary schools in the region and members including teachers, occasional teachers and early childhood educators.

"We certainly understand that this has an impact on parents and students, but the public education our students need and deserve can't be hijacked by a government whose only aim to date has been to make cuts," he said.

Weiler has worked as a teacher in Ontario for more than 20 years and he says he hasn't seen "anything quite like this" when it came to contract negotiations.

"Even going throughthe tail end of the [Mike] Harris years, wherecertainly I think there was a similar ideological approach from the government of the day.We have never seen what's happening now to this extent," he said. "Itis quite surprising."

Teachers represented by ETFOhave escalated job action since November. Earlier this month,public elementary school educators announced they would not supervise extra-curricular activities unless they are during the regular school day and they won't take students on field trips.

Education Minister Stephen Lecceissued a statement on Jan. 9 when ETFO announced it was going to stage one-day, rotating strikes, calling on the union to "end the games."

"Union leaders promised that their escalation would not impact students and their learning," Lecce's statement said."Regrettably, they have again broken that promise, however we will uphold our commitment to parents, to stay at the bargaining table and work as hard as it takes to reach a deal, that keeps students in class."