Elementary school students in Niagara will have two days in a row off next week as the teachers' union continues to ramp up job action while negotiations with the province continue to go poorly.
All members of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario will walk off the job on February 6th if a deal is not reached by January 31st.
The province-wide one day strike is in addition to ongoing rotating job action.
Union members in Niagara and Hamilton-Wentworth will also be taking part in a one day strike on the next day, February 7th.
ETFO President Sam Hammond says "From ETFO’s perspective, fair contract talks must include: appropriate funding for Special Education; a strategy to address classroom violence; maintaining our internationally recognized Kindergarten program; fair hiring practices; class sizes that meet the needs of elementary students; and compensation that keeps up with inflation." He adds, "I challenge the minister to send his negotiators back to the table to address these issues because in four months of talks from August through December 2019, his negotiators had no mandate to discuss them."