For the first time since education workers began their rotating strikes, members of the Simcoe County chapter of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) took to the picket lines Monday.
Many were stationed outside of elementary schools, but some took their demonstration to MPPs’ offices, including Jill Dunlop’s (Simcoe North) in Orillia and Doug Downey’s (Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte) in Barrie.
“We need all the MPPs to realize what issues are impacting education workers, and hopefully they realize all education workers are supporting the action that ETFO is taking,” said Janet Bigham, president of the Simcoe County chapter.
She said it’s misleading for the government to suggest ETFO president Sam Hammond is a puppet master in the strikes when union members gave him “a strong mandate.”
The ultimate goal, Bigham said, is to convince Progressive Conservative MPPs to “stand up and say, ‘Look, what we’re doing is wrong.’”
Little progress has been made in negotiations between unions and the province.
“I challenge the minister to send his negotiators back to the table to address these issues because in four months of talks from August through December 2019, his negotiators had no mandate to discuss them,” Hammond said in a news release issued Monday, referring to Education Minister Stephen Lecce.
Bigham said it doesn't help that unions are being told if they don’t want to see the cuts to education, they should find the $150 million in savings.
“You can’t just shave $150 million out of education and not directly impact the students,” she said.
While pay increases are on the unions’ wish lists, there’s more to it, she said, noting teachers are also concerned about class sizes and funding for special education, among other issues.
The response from the public to the teachers’ job action has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Bigham said.
“Because the government is coming after cuts that directly impact students … parents have been, in general, on board,” she said.
In the news release, Hammond warned the province ETFO would escalate its rotating strikes next Monday if an agreement isn't reached by the end of January. That would include a one-day strike by all 83,000 ETFO members on Feb. 6. Simcoe County ETFO members would go on strike again Feb. 4.
“Hopefully they realize that ETFO is serious here,” Bigham said. “We are willing to go to extreme measures to get the government back to the table.”
On Monday afternoon, Dunlop, Downey, Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin and York-Simcoe MPP Carline Mulroney issued the following joint statement.
"We continue to stand up against the withdrawal of services to students in Simcoe County and across the province. Teacher union leaders broke their promise to not adversely impact student learning by withdrawing services for our kids, including EQAO math testing, extracurriculars, and report cards.
“We recognize the impact of union escalation on families is real. That’s why our government launched its Support for Parents initiative that puts money directly into the pockets of parents.
“The immense uptake of our Support for Parents initiative speaks volumes to the level of uncertainty union-led strike action causes.
“For decades, families have faced union job action far too often. Students deserve better, and most importantly, our government believes they deserve to be in class. We will continue our work with one focus: landing deals that keep students in class.”
