Here we go again: another round of school closures in Grey Bruce today due to a labour disruption.
Members of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario will hold another rotating strike and the Bluewater District School Board is one of two boards targeted by the union in the province with today's job action.
Schools in the Bluewater District School Board are closed to elementary students only due to the walkout.
Third party child care centres will remain open. Community education evening programs are running. And secondary exams scheduled to begin will not be impacted.
According to a statement from ETFO, elementary teachers and education professionals will hit the picket lines at 11 different locations in Grey Bruce starting at 8:30 a.m.
The union statement explains ETFO and the Doug Ford government were last at the bargaining table prior to Christmas, on Dec. 19, 2019. There are no new dates secured to continue talks.
All of Ontario's four major teachers' unions are engaged in job actions amid contract negotiations with the province, with class size caps, mandatory online learning and below inflation wage increases seen as main sticking points.
Earlier this week, all schools in the Bruce-Grey Catholic District board closed for one day as Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association members withdrew services. Bluewater District Board schools closed last week, on Jan. 15, due to a one-day rotating strike by Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation members.