The union representing teachers at high schools across the province says it will be moving forward with strike votes after “months of delays and inaction by the Ontario government.”

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) confirmed that strike votes will be held across Ontario in the coming weeks.

“The government claims that it wants to resolve these negotiations quickly, but from the beginning they have done nothing to help expedite the process, and now they are simply refusing to discuss substantive issues at the bargaining table,” OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said in a written statement.

“They delayed the start of bargaining by two months and have thrown procedural roadblocks in the way ever since.”

He added that now that talks are underway, the province is “refusing to engage in meaningful discussions about the most important issues.”

“Through five days of bargaining they’ve brought absolutely nothing of substance to the table,” Bischof said.

The development comes after the province narrowly averted a strike involving education workers earlier this month.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 55,000 education workers across Ontario, vowed to walk off the job on Oct. 7 if the two sides could not reach a deal.

Hours before a midnight strike deadline on Oct. 6, both sides confirmed that negotiations had been successful.

“Publicly, the minister of finance has stated that an agreement already reached in the education sector should be seen as guide for outstanding agreements. But at the bargaining table we are being told that the content of other agreements has no impact on our discussions,” Bischof noted.

“Consequently, while the government and the trustee associations drag their feet, students across the province have lost access to mandatory courses, are being crammed into classrooms, sometimes with 40 or more of their peers, and are going without the critical support staff they need to succeed.”

He said that as strike votes are underway, the union hopes the government will “rethink its stance” and come to the table “prepared to discuss real issues.”