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Teachers in Petrolia and Central Lambton walk out again Tuesday

January 30, 2020

Many classrooms across Lambton County will fall silent Tuesday.

Just as elementary school teachers in the region finished a one-day walkout to back contract demands in the long-standing labour dispute with the province, there is word most teachers will walk the picketline again Tuesday.

The Ontario Catholic Elementary School Teachers Association planned another one-day strike for Feb. 4. The union representing secondary school teachers says Lambton-Kent high school teachers will also be out on the line.

As the elementary teachers completed their walkout Thursday, word came on the line that they, too, would join the walkout. It’s not clear if teachers in French as a first language schools will join them.

The union and the province have been at odds since the summer when the contract agreement expired.

Teachers say they’re fighting to stop the government’s plans to increase class sizes, reduce the amount of special education in elementary schools, and the introduction of mandatory e-learning in high schools.

The province contends this is all about wages, saying the unions refuse to accept the one per cent wage increase which was mandated by the province for all government employees.

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