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Teachers walkout cancelled, all schools open
CHML
1/11/2013

All Hamilton, Halton and Niagara Public elementary schools are open today to staff and students.

A message on the board's website says, "We apologize for the short notice, but the timing of this announcement was beyond our control. We look forward to welcoming students to school today."

The moves came after the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario called off today's planned walkout by teachers.

EFTO president Sam Hammond made the announcement moments after the Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled the planned walkout would be illegal.

Hammond says the union respects the decision and that teachers would be asked not to stage the protest of the Liberals' decision to impose two-year contracts under a controversial anti-strike law.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation told Premier Dalton McGuinty this morning that it won't go ahead with a walkout on Wednesday for public high school teachers.

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  1. Tim posted on 01/11/2013 08:33 AM
    It makes one wonder how a planned political protest can be deemed illegal by the OLRB.Was someone paid to make this ruling in favour of the government or did the challenge actually have merit.Lets face it folks the only thing illegal in this whole mess is Bill 115 !!!!!! The government wrote the bill , passed the bill , used the bill and now they will repeal the bill to throw out that olive branch to all who were effected by the bill. What an absolute joke !!!!!! Teachers have always been ready to sit down and "negotiate a new collective agreement with the government" oh but that's right the government stripped away that DEMOCRATIC RIGHT !!!!! I really don't care if you are a teacher basher or a supporter .... What the general public needs to realize is that this has never been about pay increases like Premiere Dickie Doodle always says ,this has always been about our rights as citizens of this wonderful and democratic country of ours !!!!!!!! Last time I checked my grandfather and probably yours too fought for the freedoms that we have today. How angry would they be today watching this dictatorship we call The Liberal Party of Ontario steam roll over the education workers of this province. Who is next to be steam rolled ??? Healthcare ??? Municipalities ..... Why would the liberals stop the steam roller when all they need to do is write a law get their way and then pull the law. People of Ontario I beg you to open your eyes to why this is really happening !!!!!!! You very well could be the next target in the Liberals sights !!!!!!! You have been warned !!!!!!
    1. Ian posted on 01/11/2013 09:05 AM
      @Tim The argument made seems to be based upon the fact that teachers are legally required to go to work. Do they have a right to protest? Yes, of course they do. But, just like almost everybody else in this province that works, they are expected to go to work as well, and not to take work time to protest.

      Last I check, there were no indications that they would be stopped from protesting before school, after school, or on weekends. It isn't that the protesting that is illegal - it is collective skipping of work (i.e. a strike) that is illegal.

      As to the willingness of the teacher's union to bargain, I think that is rather difficult to judge from the outside. In situations like these all parties involved tend to devolve in to children and end up making poor choices. It is likely that there have been acts of foolishness on all sides that have gotten us to where we are today. I didn't vote liberal nor have I ever been a huge Dalton fan, but he must have known that the actions he was embarking on would be an extremely risky political move for his party and I doubt that he took them lightly. My assumption is that he believed he had no choice but to impose this in order to keep our children in school and to prevent contract negotiations from having long term detrimental effects on our children.

      What I haven't seen in all of this is all the people (other than teachers) who are outraged over Bill 115 making a big deal out of it. I haven't seen a news story on an increased number of letters being sent to MPPs or school trustees or to the Premier's office etc etc. This apparent silence is perhaps what caused the Liberal government to believe that they could get away with the bill.
  2. Gary posted on 01/11/2013 08:45 AM
    Anyone with even a basic understanding of labour relations understood that the "day of protest" was in fact an illegal work stoppage.

    The ETFO, who purport to represent educators, are themselves uneducated in their thinking to suggest otherwise.

    That is unless they are educated on Labour Relations matters and knew very well that the OLRB would rule this as an illegal strike. In that case their strategy was to inflict even greater chaos and put children at greater risk.

    Either way, they have to go!!
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