The Greater Essex County District School Board wants to make it very clear classes are in session on Monday, even though the elementary teachers' union has given strike notice.
Public board spokesperson for the local negotiating committee Tom Kilpatrick says the strike action comes from provincial negotiations that went to conciliation, not local talks. "They can tell our local elementary teachers to take some job action," says Kilpatrick.
He says teachers are not simply going to walk off the job on Monday. "That's never even been discussed or any indication that's going to happen and we want to make sure the public understands that ... everything is going to be normal until we find out what action is being taken," Kilpatrick says.
The public board should know later this week what type of job action is planned for Monday.
To be clear, Kilpatrick adds, this job action has nothing to do with high school teachers. "They're not in a legal strike position. School will go on as normal with the secondary students on Monday and far into the future (because) they haven't applied for conciliation," Kilpatrick says.
