Expanded OECTA Job Action – Week of February 10, 2020
All Waterloo Catholic District School Board schools are open and running on their normal schedules during the week of February 10, 2020.
However, as part of the ongoing central bargaining process involving the Ontario government and education workers across the province, the association representing our teachers – the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) – has indicated that in the absence of a negotiated collective agreement, they are expanding their previously announced list of activities no longer being performed by teachers. The new list takes effect on February 11, 2020.
Below you will find the full list.
In practical terms, this means that because schools will not be able to assign teachers any additional supervision or “on-call duties” where they backfill for another teacher, any activity that typically requires a supply teacher or backfill in the local school will be cancelled. This is a necessary step to help maximize the number of supply teachers available to cover classes board wide.
One of the impacts of implementing this contingency plan is that sports events and field trips may need to be cancelled. Some events will proceed as planned if they do not generate the need for a supply teacher.
If there are fees associated with a cancelled field trip or event, they will be reimbursed.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we work through challenging times, and we continue to remain hopeful the two sides will return to the bargaining table quickly and will come to a fair and respectful agreement that serves the best interests of our students.
