Teachers and Education Workers in Windsor-Essex
Go All Out to Defeat Austerity

OSSTF District 9 teachers and education workers participate in work to defeat austerity agenda during London and
Windsor by-elections in August 2013 (left) and in Niagara Falls in February 2014.

June 3, 2014 - Teachers and education workers from the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) District 9 and the Greater Essex Elementary Teachers' Federation, whose members work for the Greater Essex County District School Board, inform Ontario Political Forum that their unions are going all out to defeat the Liberals and PCs.

Both unions are actively mobilizing their members by visiting schools and other work sites to explain why each member should get out three other people to contribute to electing the NDP as a strategy to defeat the Liberals and PCs, and in so doing hold all parties accountable. They are emphasizing the importance of taking action to ensure that no party in the Legislature obtains a majority from which to impose austerity in education and on the people of Ontario in general.

Together these education unions represent close to 3,000 electors who by virtue of their work have social and other links in all areas of the communities in which they live. On Thursday evenings they are conducting education worker canvasses, going door to door in the riding of Windsor West where the incumbent is a Liberal, to explain their position to electors, hear the response and encourage people to get out three others to help elect the NDP candidate. They report that the response at the first canvass was overwhelmingly positive, with a number of people stating that they greatly appreciated being given a way to defeat the PCs and the Liberals.

Members of these unions live in the ridings of: Windsor West (Liberal), Windsor-Tecumseh (NDP), Essex (NDP) and Chatham-Kent-Essex (PC).

Ontario Political Forum congratulates teachers and education workers in this area for finding a way to activate themselves to defend their rights and the rights of all in this election. By ensuring the Liberals and PCs do not gain seats and by taking one seat away from both the Liberals and the PCs, they and the rest of the electorate in these ridings can contribute to ensuring that no party gains a majority mandate for the austerity agenda. In addition, by gaining experience in this general election, in mobilizing themselves and the electorate to take a stand for their rights, teachers and education workers in this area are in a better position to contribute to taking two seats from the Harper Conservatives whenever a federal general election is called.

For further information on the position of education workers in this region visit www.osstf9.com.

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