The Province says it will introduce back to work legislation this afternoon to force teachers back to work in three school boards, including Rainbow.
The announcement was made at 11:30 a.m. today.
The province says the school year is in jeopardy for the students involved.
Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals plans on tabling back-to-work legislation for public high school teachers at 1 p.m. this afternoon.
With more than 70,000 high school students in the Sudbury, Peel and Durham regions affected, Premier Kathleen Wynne said last week that if it appeared the school year would be put in jeopardy by job action from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, she would push to legislate teachers back to work.
The Education Relations Commission was to announce this week whether the labour action put the school year in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the Ontario Labour Relations Board was looking into whether the strike was unlawful, after being requested to do so by three school boards, including the Rainbow District School Board.
In a widely reported statement, Sandals said this morning she plans on introducing back-to-work legislation this afternoon after receiving word students in the affected boards would not be able to complete their required course work if the strike continues.
She's calling on the opposition to back the legislation and give unaminous consent to passing second and third reading today.
The strike is in its sixth week.
Sandals did not say how quickly students would be back in class if the legislation passes today.
