The union representing striking secondary school teachers in Peel Region is prepared to resume negotiations with the board after talks broke down in the early hours of Monday morning, Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation District 19 President Mike Bettiol tells CP24.

The OSSTF and the Peel District School Board negotiated through the weekend and past a 12:30 a.m. strike deadline but were ultimately unable to come to terms on a new contract.

As a result, pickets have been set up at a number of Peel District School Board schools and classes have been cancelled for more than 42,000 students

“We went into bargaining on Thursday, we bargained through the weekend and by Sunday the boards position had not changed one bit even though we had started to give in on a couple things to try to find a path to a deal. They just never seemed to want to get involved in that,” Bettiol told CP24 on Monday morning. “I am ready to get back to the table as soon as the board lets us know. We are just waiting on them.”

Though Bettiol told CP24 that he wants to return to negotiations, the board issued a statement shortly after talks broke down accusing his union of walking away from the table and having no “sincere commitment” to reaching a negotiated settlement.

The statement went on to note that the board and union have agreed to 100 individual clauses and had been making “progress” on a deal.

Of course, any progress at the local level will have to be matched by progress at the central bargainning table, where discussions about monetary issues are underway.

“This negotiation process is completely dysfunctional. The central table is in charge of all of the monetary issues – that’s class size, that’s salaries, that’s benefits, that’s prep time – while the local board are responsible for the non-monetary issues such as management rights, teacher assessments and health and safety. Those are important issues but they aren’t strike material,” Peel District School Board Chair Janet McDougald told CP24 on Monday afternoon. “If the central table could come to an agreement I am absolutely confident that we could get a local settlement.”

The strike by Peel high school teachers comes in addition to another strike already underway in Durham Region, where teachers walked off the job on April 20, forcing the cancellation of classes at 22 schools.

Peel elementary schools could also soon be closed as a result of labour action. Those teachers will be in a legal strike position on May 10.

Due to the strike by OSSTF District 19, the following measures are in place:

  • All regular instructional programs for grade 9 to 12 students are cancelled.
  • Secondary extracurricular activities, field trips and school events are cancelled.
  • Buses for secondary students will not operate. Buses will continue their routes for elementary students only. Buses to provincial schools will continue.
  • The Peel board's eLearning courses will not continue.
  • Night School classes will not run.
  • Both elementary and secondary International Language classes are cancelled.
  • Teachers may be picketing outside Peel secondary schools. Picketing is not expected to take place outside Peel elementary schools.
  • Students writing International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) exams are reminded that exams will continue at off-site locations.

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