As rhetoric surrounding ongoing strikes by Ontario education workers continues to swirl online, at least one teachers' union believes it is winning the battle for public support.
The province's four major teachers unions -- the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA), and Association des Enseignantes et des Enseignants Franco-Ontariens (AEFO) - have been engaged in varying degrees of job action, including rotating, one-day strikes, since late last year. The work-to-rule campaigns and one-day walkouts have escalated since then amid stalled contract talks with the Ford government.
Each side has placed the blame for the impasse on the other, with parents and students stuck in the middle.
Despite this, OSSTF District 11 President John Bernans has noted the feedback his members have been receiving has been predominately positive.
"The issues haven't changed for us. From the beginning we have been clear that if this government wants to resolve this issue they have to put the money back into the quality of education that they have taken out," said Bernans. "I think the people can see that the government has clearly come out of the gates attacking the education system."
The main sticking points for the province's high school teachers are a move to larger class sizes, mandatory e-learning, and supports for education workers. However Education Minister Stephen Lecce has repeatedly insisted the unions are holding out for a wage increase above the 1 per cent annual cap for public sector workers.
"Our members in Thames Valley have already given up 1.5 per cent of their annual salary in strike action. So to suggest that they are giving up that salary in order to hope to get 1 per cent more than what is being offered doesn't make sense to anyone," said Bernans. "I think that is pretty clear to folks - it is not about the money."
The hard part for the unions hasn't been reaching individual parents within their boards, but rather dispelling misinformation posted to social media, specifically from what critics call right-leaning propaganda pages like Ontario Proud.
"It is tough to battle. We are concerned about public opinion, but there is a larger issue here and that is about the quality of public education now and in the future," said Bernans. "Regardless of what happens and regardless of what the public thinks, our members are not going to stand aside and be complicit in the government's action to damage the quality of public education."
OSSTF's more than 2,900 members within the Thames Valley District school board have been working to rule since November 26 and have walked the picket line three times since December. The union representing all 83,000 public elementary educators across Ontario began holding weekly one-day province-wide strikes last week. That is in addition to rotating strikes that will hit each school board once each week.
Teachers in the French system plan to hold a province-wide walkout on Thursday.
