The chances that contract talks between several Ontario public education unions (both teachers and support staff unions) and the Ontario Government/School Boards will escalate into significant job actions/strikes has reached a critical point. Such actions will likely cause significant disruptions or cancellations of student travel this fall, and possibly into 2020.

As of yesterday (Thursday, Oct 3) school boards in the GTA were advising that effective Monday (Oct 7) all schools will be closed due to the impending strike by support workers unless an agreement can be reached over the weekend.

But this is just the first of many possible disruptions. The teacher’s unions are gearing up for a strike and it would seem even more likely that they will strike or begin job action in the very near future.

Tour operators and coach operators who have significant business booked with school groups or who rely heavily on school trip business should be aware of this and make whatever arrangements they can in the event of a major school strike or work to rule campaign. While it’s hard to predict the future, it does seem very likely that there will be a lot of cancellations, at least this fall, as student travel is one of the first things to go in a labour dispute involving teachers.

OMCA will continue to monitor events and keep you apprised of developments as they occur.