TORONTO, ONT -- It's shaping up to be another week of scrambling for thousands of parents of kids whose teachers are planning strike action.
Contract talks between the province and the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario collapsed Friday with ETFO saying its teachers would walk out at each board twice a week, instead of once every two weeks.
The school boards to be hit by elementary strikes Monday include: Bluewater, Grand Erie, Halton, Ontario North East, Renfrew County, Superior-Greenstone and Trillium Lakelands -- and a provincewide strike by ETFO is set for Thursday.
In the London region, teachers with the Thames Valley District School Board and Avon Maitland District School Board are expected to walk out Tuesday as well.
Also on Tuesday, all English Catholic elementary and secondary schools will be closed.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation paused its job actions during the recent exam period, but said some members will be back on the picket lines on Tuesday.
High schools will be closed at: the Lakehead, Lambton Kent, Thames Valley, Waterloo Region, York Region, Halton and Kawartha Pine Ridge school boards.
All four major teachers' unions have been without contracts since Aug. 31, and are all engaged in some form of job action.
Unions representing English Catholic teachers and teachers in the French system have bargaining scheduled this week.
Unions are asking for wage increases of around two per cent to keep up with inflation, but the government passed legislation last year capping wage hikes for all public sector workers to one per cent for three years. The teachers' unions and several others are fighting it in court, arguing it infringes on collective bargaining rights.
Teachers' unions, particularly the three representing secondary teachers, are opposed to class size increases and mandatory e-learning requirements imposed by the government. The Tories announced last March that average secondary school class sizes would jump from 22 to 28 and four e-learning courses would be mandatory for graduation.
The province has since scaled back those increases, to an average class size of 25 and two e-learning courses, but the unions say that's not good enough.
- With files from CTV London. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2020.