Elementary school teachers in Ontario will not be performing certain duties, including planning field trips, beginning today.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) is intensifying their actions as part of their phase 2 work-to-rule strike protocol.
Because a deal has not been met, the ETFO will not participate in performance evaluation processes, plan new field trips, attend a meeting during an instructional day, complete system-level board reports and perform any duties that are normally performed by a school administrator among other actions.
Negotiations between the province, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) and the ETFO have been heated for the past few weeks.
A one-day strike is planned at several OSSTF school boards across the province on Wednesday, but it does not include York Region school boards.
The full list of tasks elementary school teachers will not be doing as part of the work action posted on the EFTO website:
- NOT participate in any performance appraisal or evaluation process, unless the member has received a previous unsatisfactory report or is ‘under review’;
- NOT post success criteria (e.g., anchor charts, learning goals, etc.) in the classroom if directed to do so by an administrator or supervisor;
- NOT prepare a bulletin board or school display if requested to do so by an administrator or supervisor;
- NOT plan any new field trips scheduled to occur before June 30, 2020;
- NOT register for any future Additional Qualification course(s) offered by a school board;
- NOT serve as ‘Teacher in Charge’;
- NOT perform any duties that are normally performed by a school administrator or direct supervisor;
- NOT complete system-level board reports requested by an administrator or supervisor;
- NOT complete board finance-related documentation (including grant applications) requested by an administrator or supervisor;
- NOT undertake the role of divisional chair/team lead;
- NOT attend meetings unless they are scheduled during the instructional day AND release time is provided by an occasional teacher, occasional DECE or an occasional education worker;
- NOT collect money or participate in the electronic collection of money for school-based activities except those for charitable causes;
- NOT purchase supplies on a member’s own time if requested to do so by an administrator or supervisor;
- NOT distribute any memos/letters from a school and/or school board;
- NOT distribute any material related to the legal strike action of another bargaining unit; and
- NOT participate in any new employee attendance or absence reporting processes, including the submission of medical certificates initiated because of full-withdrawal strike action by another union/bargaining unit.
