The Fight of Educators for Their Working Conditions Has Established a New Standard
- Enver Villamizar -
Presidents of the four Ontario education unions hold joint press
conference following Education Minister Stephen Lecce's
speech at the
Canadian Club, February 12, 2020.
The joint February 21 walkout called by four
Ontario education
unions is the result of education workers steadfastly overcoming the
attempts to divide their ranks. Since 2012, when the Ontario Liberal
government led by Dalton McGuinty deliberately set out to use one union
against the others, a very open split was created among the leaderships
of the
various education unions. This approach has been used by successive
governments to get one of the unions in education to agree to a general
framework for a province-wide collective agreement that it can then
impose on the others, despite the different working conditions and
realities that exist across the province and across school boards.
 The
Wynne Liberal government then imposed provincial bargaining that
further exacerbated the situation by legislating the elimination of
much local decision-making over negotiations. The combination of the
divide-and-rule methods and the elimination of local decision-making
was aimed at eliminating the ability of the mass of teachers and
education workers across the province to express their determination to
improve the education system rather than accept its deterioration in
the name of maintaining the status quo.
Since 2012, but even more so since March 2019,
concerted efforts have been made at the grassroots level to overcome
the divisions on the basis that education is a right and that
irrespective of which board one works at or which job class one holds,
educators are one in defence of the right to education and their right
to decide their wages
and working conditions. This has included the call to elect a teacher
as an independent candidate as a way to speak for yourself and empower
yourself now, the formation of joint organizing groups on social media
where all educators, irrespective of union affiliation, can join and
inform one another about what is taking place and plan actions
together. It has also included the establishment of forms of media such
as the Education is a Right podcast in which educators across unions
discuss together the problems in education and what can be done to
solve them.
This ongoing work at the grassroots level resulted
in
new standards of unity once the strikes of education workers began in
October 2019 with the Canadian Union of Public Employees' (CUPE)
work-to-rule actions. Despite CUPE being the first to sign a contract
with the government, which the government hoped could be used to show
that
workers accept its dictated one percent limit on new compensation, this
did not divide educators. In fact, it re-affirmed the need for united
actions. During the CUPE negotiations educators began to see each
other's actions as their own and expressed this in many ways such as
school staff wearing the same colours across unions, giving cards, food
and other gifts to make it clear that everyone was in the same fight.
 Once
rotating strikes of the unions representing teachers and education
workers began, this was elevated to new levels. What started as
rotating strikes of each union have become almost daily strikes of the
mass of education workers who see each other's actions as their own.
Examples abound from across the province of the unity in the
workplace amongst members of all unions. When one union was out on a
rotating strike, those not out joined their lines, bringing food and
other support at lunch time or before and after school to show that
they are united. In some cases when strikes of different unions took
place on the same day, picket lines have been merged and infrastructure
such as tents and sound systems shared. In one example, to show support
for their striking support staff, all other staff and administration at
a school pooled donations to "adopt" their striking colleagues for the
day, matching the strike pay they received from their union. These
actions express the sentiment of education workers that this is one
fight
and that they will not be divided. In sum, what is taking place on
February 21 is a reflection of what teachers and educators have wanted,
especially since 2012, which is a united front to affirm the rights of
all education workers.
Irrespective of what may happen now in the
negotiations,
a new standard has been established that will not be forgotten and
bodes well for the future. It is this unity in action that the ruling
class fears most. It will no doubt double down now to try and impose
new divisions or, failing that, use force in the form of back-to-work
legislation.
Regardless of what the government tries, this unity in action has set a
new standard and will guide education workers into the difficult
battles ahead.
Education workers picket Education Minister Lecce's speech to the
Canadian Club, Toronto, February 12, 2020.
This article was published in
Number 6 - February 19, 2020
Article Link:
The Fight of Educators for Their Working Conditions Has Established a New Standard - Enver Villamizar
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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