Dear Parents/Guardians,
We are providing you with an important update regarding teacher contract negotiations and the impact on Ontario’s secondary schools and students (Grades 9-12).
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) is in negotiations with the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Public School Boards' Association (OPSBA) to achieve new collective agreements for secondary teachers and education workers (including Child and Youth Workers, Social Workers and Speech-Language Pathologists).
OSSTF, which is currently in a legal strike position, has announced that its members will be taking part in a limited withdrawal of services (sometimes referred to as work-to-rule) beginning Tuesday, November 26, 2019. This is a limited withdrawal of services and not a full withdrawal/strike.
The withdrawal of services includes, but is not limited to:
- Not performing EQAO preparation or testing
- Not attending unpaid staff meetings outside the school day
- Not providing comments on any secondary provincial report cards
A full list of OSSTF job action is available online.
During this limited withdrawal of services, schools will remain open and instructional programs will continue to run. However, should the withdrawal of services progress to include further sanctions, it may have a more significant impact on school activities, permits and school operations. If there is a full withdrawal of services or a full strike by OSSTF, the TDSB would be required to close schools as there would not be a sufficient number of staff to supervise students and ensure their safety.
As a result of the job action, principals and vice-principals in our schools will have to take on additional tasks. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.
At this time, negotiations between OSSTF, OPSBA and the Ontario government continue and we are hopeful that an agreement can be reached soon. We will continue to update parents/guardians with new information as soon as it becomes available. For ongoing updates, please visit the TDSB webpage for Labour Negotiations and follow @tdsb on Twitter.
