The Urgent Need Is to Stop Paying the Rich and for Investments in Education
One of the significant matters raised with the proposal to go directly to voluntary binding interest arbitration is that it avoids addressing the need for increased investments in education to address the serious crisis in the system. This crisis was exacerbated during the pandemic but, more broadly, is because of government's anti-social offensive which is privatizing education and starving the public system.
Going
to this form of arbitration means that some of the most significant
matters related to students' learning conditions are swept under the
rug. This includes the need for actual caps on class sizes versus
averages which can be manipulated, or significant investments in
special education to
meet the needs of youth who face learning difficulties or social
problems as a result of the breakdown of the social fabric. It is
unlikely interest arbitrators will take these issues up despite the
fact that they are uppermost on the minds of teachers and education
workers as well as parents and
students themselves.
Wages which permit education workers especially to live stable lives are also important. It is a matter of upholding the dignity of labour so that they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities without having to work multiple jobs and live pay cheque to pay cheque. Investments in education are required to improve conditions and meet the needs of the youth for a bright future.
The mass mobilization of the people to demand a new direction for the economy is vital to stopping the anti-social offensive. Having arbitrators settle contracts without the mobilization of the working people themselves, including the public, eliminates the important role of the people without whose input they remain on the receiving end of what others who are not their peers decide for them.
Following the pandemic there is a general consciousness, of parents especially, that the conditions in the schools are not adequate and that investments are required. This consciousness favours proving public education with the investments and resources it requires.
This article was published in
Number 51 - September 17, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2023/Articles/WO10516.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca