While provincial numbers aren't expected until next month, the local results of an elementary school teachers' strike vote may shine some light on which way educators are voting across Ontario.
Around 3,000 teachers with the Thames Valley District School Board attended the vote at Budweizer Gardens on Thursday, to decide whether or not to give their union a strike mandate. The teachers, represented by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), were given two ballots -- one for their local district and the other for the provincial vote.
Similar votes are being held across the province this month in other districts, but those results won't be made available until early in November. However, Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley local of the ETFO, said local results will likely be released on Friday.
"We'll have a certain sense of the flavour of it by what we see in ours," he said. "I think people are very well aware of what the issues are and the challenges we face in this round of bargaining.
"They know what we have to do to get to what we need, which is a fair collective agreement, negotiated through collective bargaining."
Smith said a strike mandate would tell the provincial government that teachers are "taking this very, very seriously."
The union has cited a number of issues that are being addressed during bargaining including more support for students with special needs, class size and class structure, the protection of full-day kindergarten and fair and transparent hiring practices.
Bargaining between ETFO and the province has been ongoing since June and a conciliation officer was recently requested after talks stalled between the two parties. If conciliation fails, the union can apply for a No Board Report and teachers would then be in a legal strike position after 17 days the report is released.
"It's something that nobody wants, most of all teachers. We're committed to the work that we do with the students that we teach. It means an awful lot to all of us and it's a decision that's taken lightly," said Smith.
