High school teachers hold one-day strike against education cuts
Teachers participate in second one-day strike against education cuts (OSSTF Toronto/Instagram)
Written by: Aidan Jonah
Ontario high school teachers in nine school boards held a second one-day strike against the Ford government’s attacks on the education system today.
Harvey Bischof, president of Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said the union and the government have not held contract talks since last week. He said the strike could not be avoided despite Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s pleas to call it off and enter into third-party mediation with the government.
On Dec. 7, OSSTF had offered to cancel the strike and enter into third-party mediation if the government revert to class sizes of 22 students, eliminate e-learning courses and ensure Bill 124 will not impede free collective bargaining. This offer was rejected by Leece, who accused OSSTF of playing “games that singularly hurt our kids.”
Teachers went on strike today at the following school boards;
- Toronto District School Board
- Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board
- Grand Erie District School Board
- Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board
- Near North District School Board (elementary and secondary schools affected)
- Rainy River District School Board
- Simcoe County District School Board
- Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (elementary and secondary schools affected)
- Trillium Lakelands District School Board
The Ontario Parent Action Network came out in support of the striking teachers and attacked Lecce. They described him as, “our PR snake oil salesman” and decried his belief that “forced elearning is the way of the future.”
There was a resilient mood among the teachers and their supporters at Runnymede Collegiate Institute, a school which has stood the test of time for more than 90 years. More than 30 people participated in the full-day information picket in -4 C weather, which went from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Teachers are upbeat but “would rather be in our classrooms and having good fair negotiations with the province,” according to Carlotta Lovell, a secondary school teacher at RCI. She is in support of this strike, even under difficult circumstances “because we know we are fighting for the right things.”
Bhutila Karpoche, the MPP for Parkdale-High Park, came out to support striking teachers. She called out Education Minister Lecce and emphasized the Ontario NDP’s efforts “to expose their agenda in making cuts to education.” Karpoche said that teachers are fighting for their students and expressed her solidarity with them.
Unless a deal can be reached between the provincial government and OSSTF, escalating strike actions are on the horizon.