Teachers’ strike ‘unlawful’

In an attempt to bring end the high school teachers’ strike in province public schools certain boards plan to ask Ontario’s labour board to declare the ongoing strike illegal.
The Peel District School Board has joined the Durham and Rainbow district school boards in filing an application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) that argues the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) strikes in their districts are unlawful.
The strike by some 3,500 teachers in Peel is now in its second week. The walkout has closed the region’s 37 public high schools and left about 42,000 students wondering if they will return to classrooms before the end of the school year.
From the outset, Peel Board chair Janet McDougald has been maintain that the local labour disruption is an “unfair strike” orchestrated by the provincial arm of OSSTF to put pressureon the provincial government at the central bargaining talks, where big ticket contract issues, like salaries and benefits, are discussed and settled.