Union said it offered binding arbitration but was refused
On Feb. 7, Catholic elementary teachers in Thunder Bay, Ont., began rotating strikes.
For more than a year Thunder Bay’s Catholic elementary teachers have been trying to negotiate local terms for a new contract with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board.
“At this point we feel there is no alternative but to withdraw our services until an agreement can be reached,” said Aldo Grillo, president of the local Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) Thunder Bay Elementary Unit. “This is an issue that our teachers feel very strongly about. Despite what the school board might say, we do not believe that transparency and objective criteria for staffing decisions are too much to ask from a publicly funded institution.”
The bargaining unit made every effort to resolve the dispute without disruption in the classroom. They offered to enter into binding arbitration, which is a process whereby a neutral third-party would review the positions of both sides and present a resolution that would be binding on both parties. The school board declined to enter into this process, according to the union.
The Thunder Bay Elementary Unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association is one of only four teacher groups in the province that does not have a current collective agreement, said the union.
