Strike votes by teacher’s unions signals impending labour unrest in education

BY PAUL JUNOR

There is no end to possible labour unrest in the public education sectors as the Ford government continues to face the anger and wrath of teachers across the province. The decision to increase class size in grade 4 to 8 by one student, and from 22 to 28 from grades 9 -12 over the next four years has not been well received. The unions have estimated that there will be potentially a reduction of 10,000 teaching positions in the next few years and this has caused many teachers with less seniority and new to the profession to be really worried about their future. The cancellation of classes, courses, programs and cutbacks in educational services have been felt right across the province as hundreds of teachers have been laid off.  It is within this context that the unions are upset and angry with the government.

The Ontario English Catholic Teacher’s Association (OECTA), which represents both elementary and secondary Catholic teachers, has launched a legal challenge against the Ontario government. It claims that the government (by amending class-size regulations at the end of August) has violated the “statutory” freeze provisions under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act and the Ontario Labour Relations Act as reported in the Saturday, September 21^st edition of the Toronto Star. According to Liz Stuart, president of OECTA, “By essentially pre-empting the bargaining process, the government has also contravened our Charter of Right to bargain collectively. OECTA’s priority is to negotiate a collective agreement that protects and enhances working and learning conditions in our schools. To do this we must be able to trust the government to respect the integrity of the bargaining process.”

The government responded through the Education Minister’s spoke person Alexandra Adamo, “Our government will not be deterred from the mission to reach a deal that ensures that students remain in class. We must continue to bargain with our union partners in good faith, to ensure our kids remain in class” as reported in the Toronto Star. Unfortunately, talks between OECTA and the government have stalled and there was an announcement as reported on October 20^th in the Toronto Sun that the union has decided to vote on a province wide strike on November 13^th.

To complicate an already unsettled environment, the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF), which represents Ontario public high school teachers, have also signalled that they will be conducting a strike vote as well.  OSSTF has taken the unprecedented step to keep its members up to date on all aspects of the negotiations by being as transparent, open and accessible as possible. The issues that are a priority for the union centered around: staffing, workload, occupational health and safety, professional development, staff meeting and adult day school.

Subsequently, in October OSSTF announced that it would conduct a central vote. The Toronto Teacher’s Bargaining Unit (TTBU) will have a local bargaining strike vote at the same time as the central strike vote on November 6^th and 7^th and alternate dates for year-round schools and R.H King Academy. There will be an All-Member General Meeting on Monday, November 4^th at 4:30 p.m. at the Toronto Convention Centre. The provincial OSSTF will inform its members about central bargaining with presentations from the TTBU Executive about local bargaining and the strike vote strategy. A strike vote does not mean that there will be full withdrawal of services, but it can take different forms as the union sees fit strategically to get the government to comply with its demands.

Many are hoping that the provincial government will settle with the union to avert a possible future strike as it did with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). CUPE was able to reach a tentative deal right after a strike vote that enabled its members to gain a 1% wage increase and secure millions in government funding to restore as many as 1,500 jobs that were eliminated. It may be more challenging for the government to appease the unions, as the issues are more complex and intricate.