strike

Wednesday November 13, 2019

November 13, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 13, 2019

There’s still time to avoid school strikes in Ontario

On the surface,  there isn’t much reason for optimism in the ongoing labour standoff between Ontario’s government and educators.

August 29, 2019

The unions are uniformly unhappy with progress made to date in negotiations. Most have already held strike votes and received strong mandates, and those that have not will soon.

The government insists it is being reasonable and remains ready to negotiate and reach agreements.

In other words, contract talks are proceeding as they tend to – slowly, painfully and stressfully.

But looking a little deeper yields some reason for optimism.

First,  there is the government’s newly announced desire to govern reasonably as opposed to with a draconian heavy hand.

After a disastrous first year, Doug Ford has become the least popular populist in Canada.

All sources agree – he doesn’t like that.

March 19, 2019

He doesn’t want his government to be or be seen to be ideologically extreme. He wants to fulfil his agenda but not like a bull in a china shop. He’s seen how well that worked his first year as premier.

While it’s true that Ontarians take a dim view of school strikes, it’s also true the blame for them is typically apportioned to both sides.

In fact, given the unpopularity of many Ford initiatives so far, there’s a good chance he and his government will be blamed more than teacher unions if we do end up with one or more strikes.

If he’s bothered by how unpopular he is now, just wait until school strikes are factored in.

No doubt, as is the case with most labour negotiations,  there are a host of issues on the table. But most are probably not strike-worthy.

October 8, 2019

Typically, only a couple of issues are worth taking that big step to the last resort.

In this case, one is class size. On this, the government should yield.

It has already agreed to reduce its target of 28 students per average class to 25, compared to the current 22.5.

But that offer contained a poison pill that would have required unions to sign off all control on class size caps and trust the government to do the right thing.

That’s not going to happen, nor should it.

The class size issue has nothing to do with educational outcomes and everything to do with saving money.

The larger average size will eliminate 10,000 teaching jobs. It will do nothing for students and families.

According to last week’s financial statement, the provincial deficit is about half of what Ford previously claimed it was.

That, plus higher than expected revenues, should allow the government to back away from this particular savings scheme.

Then there’s money, of course.

The province wants to cap all public-sector wage increases at one per cent. Teacher unions want two per cent. Inflation is running just under two per cent.

A full percentage point below the rate of inflation is not reasonable and won’t fly with most public sector unions as it amounts to a pay cut.

The government has already signalled that its one-per-cent cap is an aspiration not a hard deal breaker.

There should be room here for a compromise that can avoid a strike, and all the negative fallout that entails. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Tuesday October 8, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 8, 2019

Ford government dodges CUPE strike but more education labour woes ahead

After narrowly averting a massive strike by 55,000 educational support workers, Premier Doug Ford’s government will now turn full attention to teacher negotiations.

Talks between the province and several unions are ongoing.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), l’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) represent over 160,000 teachers currently without a deal.

ETFO is currently in the process of gauging whether or not an appetite exists for job action. The union is taking strike votes with members across the province. If a majority approves, 78,000 teachers, occasional teachers and other education professionals could be in a legal potential strike position as early as November.

Laura Walton, who headed up CUPE talks with the province, said after their deal was brokered Sunday that the union stands in solidarity with ETFO and other labour groups.

Walton also indicated CUPE made few concessions in bargaining.

September 26, 2019

The deal still needs to be ratified by members, a process which could take a month. However Walton’s message to Education Minister Stephen Lecce was clear Sunday.

“Thanks for opening the piggybank and allowing us to get the services that we needed for our students, they’ll thank you too.”

Lecce responded to Walton’s statement Monday.

“I think what we have done is we’ve opened up classrooms in Ontario and I think that’s the focus and I think we’ve done so within our mandate to be fair,” he said on Global News Morning. “I think that all parties in the province of Ontario could leave this negotiation with a sense of incremental achievement on their priorities.“

Sources with knowledge of the negations told Global News the government essentially “caved to political pressure.”

The deal happened amid a federal election where Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has been seen as distancing himself from Ford due to the premier’s low approval ratings. (Global News) 

 

Thursday August 29, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday August 29, 2019

Ontario students deserve better than the blame game

August 16, 2001

It’s that simultaneously wonderful (for parents) and terrible (for kids) time of year again.

Normally, back to school is a bit like Christmas for parents who, by now, have run out of ways to keep young kids busy and are seriously starting to wonder if their teenagers remember how to write without emojis and add numbers greater than their social media followers.

But thanks to the Ford government, this year’s return to school is also a time of concern and confusion.

Just days before students trot off in their first-day outfits with backpacks full of new school supplies, there’s more that’s uncertain than certain about what this year and beyond will look like for them.

September 3, 2013

What changes are being made to Ontario’s math curriculum, and will it do anything to raise math scores? Will the new mandatory online high school courses be innovative or simply a cheaper and lesser alternative to traditional classes? How big will real classes be, not just the “average” size the government likes to reference? How reduced will the options be in art, music, science and other electives?

And, of course, what will happen when contract negotiations really ramp up?

Teachers’ contracts expire three days before students take their seats. Negotiations on new contracts could, in theory, go smoothly or be lengthy, contentious and, in the worst-case scenario, result in the withdrawal of extracurricular activities or a strike before deals are struck.

June 25, 2015

So, amid all that, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce stepped up last week to “reassure students and their families.”

He announced that class sizes wouldn’t be much larger this year. At 22.5 students in that famously average high school class, that’s up just half a student from last year.

That’s fair enough. But then Lecce suggested that the planned increase to 28 students within four years might not be needed because he’s open to “innovative ideas” that unions could bring forward to save money in other ways.

That’s not about reassuring students or giving parents and educators “predictability” – another of his claimed motives.

Lecce is doing nothing more than trying to shift the blame for the school changes that students and parents aren’t going to like from the government to the unions.

August 21, 2015

It’s a typical, if not very successful, negotiating tactic.

But students and parents know well that the reduction in teachers, increased class sizes and, worst of all, more limited course options are a direct result of the Ford government’s education cuts.

Last month, Lecce blamed the reduction in course options for high school students on school boards. Now, he’s hunting for a new target: teachers.

But this isn’t about teachers, it’s about students. And it’s about this government’s decision to save money in ways that will hurt struggling students, gifted students and generally make school a lot less interesting for everyone.

January 25, 2019

When Premier Doug Ford’s government first unveiled its education overhaul, it claimed it was “modernizing” the system. Then the first education minister said increasing class size was about making students more resilient. And now, with the new education minister, we’re to believe it’s suddenly all negotiable.

But it’s not.

Not so long as the government is determined to reduce its deficit through school cuts that risk the vital education gains that have been made in Ontario.

Ford and his education ministers are fast running out of excuses and ways to sell the unsellable. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Wednesday November 21, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 21, 2018

With no labour deal in sight, Canada Post warns of delivery delays into January

Canada Post says Canadians can expect delays of parcel and mail delivery into 2019 as a result of rotating strikes by its employees.

And it says the worst delays will likely be in southern and southwestern Ontario because of a backlog of hundreds of transport trailers sitting idle at its main Toronto sorting facility.

The Crown corporation has told its commercial customers that it cannot honour its delivery standards for any product because of the prolonged strikes.

The walkouts have created massive backlogs of mail and parcels just days before an expected rush of millions more parcels from Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today repeated his call for both sides in the dispute to resolve their differences soon.

But he gave no indications that his government is prepared to force postal workers back to their jobs yet, saying only that he wants a deal, and that the government is considering what it can do to put an end to the labour dispute.

“We are, of course, very preoccupied with the fact that Christmas is coming, important shopping days are coming and we need to see a resolution to that,” Trudeau said as he arrived in Ottawa for a meeting with his cabinet.

“As I’ve said many times, all options are on the table,” he added when asked whether he was prepared to table back-to-work legislation.

Canada Post is dealing with a fifth week of rotating strikes by its unionized workers as both sides remain apart on contract negotiations. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Friday October 26, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday October 26, 2018

Ontario Cannabis Store mum on backup delivery plan amid Canada Post strikes

October 17, 2018

As Canada Post strikes continue, the Ontario Cannabis Store is refusing to say when it will implement a so-called “contingency plan” to get pot to consumers.

That’s despite hundreds of people complaining online that their orders have been stalled or cancelled altogether in the week since legalization.

Cannabis became legal in Canada on Oct. 17 with provinces and territories launching a range of models using either retail or online stores, or both.

In Ontario, private stores will not open until April 2019 and in the meantime, the Ontario Cannabis Store is the only legal retailer for cannabis in the province.

September 15, 2016

But in the week since legalization, hundreds of Ontario consumers have taken to social media to complain the online retailer has failed to meet its promised one- to three-day delivery window, cancelled orders without notice and is failing to give any information to consumers about how they plan to deal with the ongoing Canada Post strike.

And as of Wednesday, its customer service hotline is also out of service “due to circumstances beyond our control.”

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Ontario Cannabis Store said it has processed 100,000 orders so far.

That’s roughly the same amount it had previously said had been placed by consumers over the first 24 hours of legalization. (Source: Global News) 

 

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