The kids stayed home. Parents scrambled to find daycare. And the teachers whose one-day strike Tuesday closed elementary schools could be seen at major intersections waving placards.
Thirty-five thousand elementary school teachers were on the picket lines December 18 to protest Bill 115, the provincial legislation attempting to impose controls on salaries and benefits in the education sector. The teachers’ unions say it limits their collective bargaining rights, and have introduced a variety of protest measures, including curtailing or cancelling extracurricular activities.
Included in the one-day strike were schools in Waterloo Region, where the board closed the doors in response to job action on the part of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
For Waterloo regional ETFO president Greg Weiler, the strike was about pressing the government to reconsider its hard-line approach with Bill 115.
![Teachers took to the streets of Elmira , closing schools in protest of Bill 115 on Tuesday. Among the group were Linwood PS teachers Troy Bottinger, Valerie Enns-Frede, Pamilla Caskanette and Julie Snyder Penner. [elena maystruk / the observer]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/feature-strike-instory.jpg)
“The goal is for the government to be willing to come back and have meaningful discussion, and that means not saying that Bill 115 is the law and we can’t talk about that anymore. And to have meaningful discussion about what is their plan as far as what will happen next.”
Locally, teachers from Wellesley and Woolwich townships gathered to picket downtown Elmira at 8:30 a.m. along Arthur Street, concentrating on the Oriole Parkway and Church Street intersections and branching out into smaller groups. Unions chose not to have staff picket outside of the schools. The goal was to have picketers visible to the public.
Teachers from various locations, including Conestogo, Linwood, Park Manor and John Mahood public schools, were bundled up against the weather, brandishing their red picket signs. Some local supporters were also present and walking alongside the teachers.
Those out on the picket lines declined to talk about the issues, referring inquiries to the union.
Attendance at the picket line was mandatory for teachers, but those unable to attend due to special circumstances were taken into account, Weiler said. The union local is currently running a food drive for various regional shelters and teachers unable to walk the picket lines chose to help out with the charitable effort instead.
The strike, he said, was in keeping with the Ontario Labour Relations Act, which states that 16 days must pass following the receipt of a “no board” report before legal strike action can take place. A strike is only legal once the conciliation process has been attempted and the required time has elapsed after the Minister of Labour has issued what’s known as a “no board” report.
Teachers walked off the job 18 days after the ETFO received that report from the ministry.
Waterloo Region teachers weren’t the only ones off the job, as they were joined by counterparts in the Greater Toronto Area, Peel, Durham, Greater Essex, Grand Erie and Lambton Kent.
The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) was contacted by the provincial union office early Saturday morning with the official date of the strike and the board sent letters home with students asking parents to make alternate childcare arrangements.
Board spokesperson Abigail Dancey said staff suspected a strike was coming based on information from other school boards in the province. The board sent a letter home with students the previous Friday to inform parents of the possibility of a walkout in advance of Saturday’s official 72-hour notice from the ETFO.
“The idea of ‘super Tuesday’ was coming out. We knew Saturday would difficult so we sent it out on Friday.”
Back in the classrooms on Wednesday, teachers at various schools resumed a busy pre-Christmas week. Some holiday concerts put on annually by students and staff were cancelled due to the strike.
While Bill 115 essentially eliminates a protracted strike, one-day walkouts are allowed given the 72-hour notice period.
