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Education What Teachers and Education Workers Are Learning Through the Pandemic Laura Chesnik is an elementary teacher in
Ontario and a host of the Education
is a Right Podcast. A major focus of our work since last May Day has been to lift the pressure on our peers that our role in this pandemic is to be good critics of the government. We need to find ways to put in place solutions by discussing what we are all facing and how we can make a difference.
Early on in the school year, the Ministry of Labour kept dismissing things, claiming that without proof of the virus in the school itself, you do not have a valid reason to refuse. Refusals were transformed into what are called "complaints." Complaints were registered and recorded but we saw this was done using form letters that did not even accurately document the actual complaint. For example, despite all the knowledge that the virus spreads via aerosols, it stated right on the form letter that there is no evidence the virus spreads in the air through ventilation systems. The government's claims of no proof of the virus spreading in schools comes alongside its refusal to do mass testing in the workplaces to even know if COVID-19 is in the schools and find out how it is traveling.
We have seen that while it may seem impossible at first to even consider how to empower oneself under these circumstances, there is always a way forward, you just have to keep talking about it, arguing it out and seeing what is possible. So we began discussing openly how this issue of refusing posed itself, what it means to refuse, and that it is not an issue of refusing work per se, or just going through the motions. It is refusing to go along with something that is unacceptable and trying to find alternatives by affirming our right to conscience and freedom of speech. We informed ourselves and our audience of the experiences of those who took a stand across the province and we also had our own experiences with this whole process. We realized that, in fact, a refusal and even a threat of a refusal does a lot. For example, it brings the conditions to the attention of parents, other staff and the administration. It does not permit things to continue unspoken. And it reveals the absurdity of the situation in which there are outbreaks in the schools but the Ministry of Labour inspectors say there is no evidence of the virus in the schools and the Minister of Education insists schools are not a source of transmission. The issue we are taking up now is that it is not a choice whether to go along with unsafe conditions or not. It is a duty to not accept conditions that are unsafe and we should take up this duty without hesitation for ourselves, our colleagues, our students and the society as a whole.
The stands taken by doctors, nurses, scientists and other professionals with relevant expertise who are speaking out, calling for changes to make schools safer, to have mass testing, smaller class sizes, improved ventilation, or to close schools and provide the necessary supports for families has also made a difference. It has given teachers and education workers a lot more confidence that we are not alone in being concerned, that medical and scientific professionals are taking up their duty too. It is one fight. Our experience is showing that by putting the problems on the agenda for everyone and having a way to inform one another, nothing is impossible. The work of the Workers' Centre to do this nationally is very important. We can see from our own experience and the experience of others across the country that solutions can be found, but it starts by taking a stand to not accept what is unacceptable. (Photos: OSSTF, S. Osbourne, C. Spagnuolo)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
In Ontario the
first issue we faced after the initial shutdown
in March 2020 was
how to affirm our right to safe working
conditions when we know the
virus is spreading in our communities and it
will come into our schools
if we are not very vigilant. On the podcast
Education Is a Right we
began taking up this discussion directly in
terms of how it
poses itself in education: what it means to
refuse unsafe work, how to
refuse, and what happens when one does. For
educators, the right to
refuse is a bit different than in other sectors;
we have exceptions as
we come under the 
We
can see that the existing arrangements for
health and safety which put
everything on the individual -- either the
worker or the supervisor --
do not protect us unless we have organization.
They are meant to keep
everyone isolated, making it a "choice" whether
to uphold your rights
or not. In fact, it is through working things
out together that
we can see that it is a social responsibility to
refuse unsafe work and
to make it safe. Yet, the whole system is set up
to say that you as an
individual have to have a legitimate fear for
your own personal health
and safety and cannot do a refusal "for others."
It is aimed at
preventing a collective expression of NO
to conditions that are unsafe
by reducing everyone to their own island, making
their own choice. But,
as people take stands it necessarily becomes an
issue for everyone, so
taking a stand is the starting point.
Teachers
and education workers in different parts of the
province have started
now taking stands collectively in their
workplaces to refuse to go in
if it is not safe to do so and if measures are
not taken to make them
safe. Some took the decision to refuse as a
group, others took the
decision to raise concerns and threaten a
refusal if their
concerns were not addressed. These actions
resulted in changes being
made in the workplaces, including the
establishment of committees for
reviewing safety that are not official but have
been set up to allow
workers to have their say about what is needed.
In many cases
administrators and parents have been very
supportive, in fact even
thanking
people for doing work refusals or threatening a
refusal.