Ontario's teachers are heading back to work next week without new contracts, after negotiations between the province and education unions stalled just days before the start of the school year.
The unions' contracts expired at midnight Monday, and talks are on hold while the Ontario Labour Board rules on a dispute over which contract issues will be negotiated locally and which will be handled provincially, CHCH reported. Negotiations cannot resume until that ruling comes down, and union leaders are warning that labour disruption may be difficult to avoid.
Union warns of continued strain in schools
David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, told CHCH that students and educators will face the same pressures that have built up over nearly a decade, and he blamed a lack of government investment in schools.
"We're going to see some of the same chaos, the same lack of support, the same struggling students, the same frustrated educators that we saw for the last seven or eight years,"
Mastin said the stalled talks have put the two sides on a path toward disruption.
"We're on a path that I don't know how you avoid having labour disruptions,"
Ontario has not seen a teachers' strike since 2020. Education Minister Paul Calandra struck a more hopeful note, telling CHCH he does not expect job action as students return.
"I fully expect that there is an opportunity for the government and the unions to come to an agreement. We'll be working on that. I don't expect any labour challenges. I think students will be in the schools for a number of months going ahead,"
At Queen's Park, the opposition said the stalemate breaks a commitment made by the education minister.
"The minister of education promised that he would get a contract by Labour Day. So here we are with uncertainty and frankly a lot of chaos facing families,"
NDP Leader Marit Stiles made the comments to CHCH.
Attendance marks and new parent support offices
As school begins, the government is also moving ahead with a plan to factor attendance into high school grades. Calandra said the policy is aimed at students with unexcused absences, not those busy with legitimate activities.
"This isn't targeting those kids who are busy and doing the right thing. What this is about is those kids who don't have an excused absence from their parents and sometimes their parents don't even know that they're skipping a class,"
The minister said sports, band practice and family vacations will not count against students as long as parents notify the school.
David Hansen, chief education officer and CEO of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, told CHCH the board expects most absences will be excused and that extracurricular activities will not be affected.
The province is also creating a Student and Family Support Office for every school board, giving parents a formal channel for concerns that have not been resolved by a teacher or principal. Calandra said the offices must acknowledge a complaint within two days and provide an answer within five, except in complex cases.
He said the new offices should also ease pressure on teachers heading back to classrooms next week, by giving parents a clear route to answers that front-line staff may not be able to provide.
