Toronto high school teachers hold one-day information pickets against education cuts

High school teachers in Toronto picket outside the Toronto District School Board as part of a one-day strike organized by the OSSTF. (680 NEWS/Mark Douglas)

Written by: Aidan Jonah

OSSTF Toronto members at multiple TDSB schools led information pickets throughout the day to protest the breakdown of negotiations with the province.

Negotiations between OSSTF and the province were called off on Dec. 16, with mediators suggesting that both sides should take the holidays to consider their positions, according to the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association.

The OSSTF is also one of four major teachers’ unions that launched charter challenges to a law capping public sector wage increases at one per cent for the next three years. According to CTV News, Bischof has said that the law, which was passed as negotiations were set to begin, showed that the provincial government was not interested in negotiating in good faith.

Meanwhile, ten school boards went on strike today. The full list of affected boards is as follows:

·       York Region District School Board

·       York Catholic District School Board

·       Halton District School Board

·       Waterloo Region District School Board

·       Waterloo Catholic District School Board

·       Lakehead District School Board

·       Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board

·       Lambton Kent District School Board

·       Thames Valley District School Board

·       Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board

The methods used to increase awareness varied throughout the 58 TDSB schools which had teacher-led information pickets.

According to Leslie Wolfe, president of OSSTF Toronto, the plan was for members to “be at subways, on street corners, and in neighbourhoods before work, during their lunch break and after work all across the city, engaging with parents and neighbours.”

Teachers at Western Technical Commercial School distributed flyers and sung carols at Runnymede Station for three periods of 30-45 minutes. Whereas, at Runnymede C.I. teachers met at 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. for information pickets in front of the school on Jane St.

Teachers at RCI chose information pickets as it gave them “the capability to explain the education cuts to the public, without negatively impacting our students”, according to Carlotta Lovell, an English teacher at the school.

Wilma Pidhayny, RCI’s OSSTF branch president, said teachers were “very cold but glad to have the support of the public and students.”

Lorena Viega, a third-year student at RCI who attended the lunchtime picket in support of the teachers, said that “our education should never be questioned.” She believes that “teachers striking by themselves won’t send a strong enough message to the government” and urged Ontarians to support striking teachers.

Negotiations between OSSTF and the province will not resume until the new year, ensuring that teacher-led protests and strikes will continue to escalate over the coming weeks.