Sept 20 daily news links included at the end of this blog.......
As an
OECTA member, the many protests when
Bill 115 became law last week sure brought back lots of memories from when we were on the teacher front lines during the
Harris Years. Being faced with far worse cut backs and threats to the very existence of our union seemed to bring out the best in us all. OECTA's commitment and participation were second to none during the province wide protest strike when all the teacher unions were all out on the streets for 2 weeks. Excellent communications, and organization helped us mobilize our members to rise to protect our jobs and our schools. It was really disheartening to sit back and do nothing now as the
Liberal government and the
Conservative opposition banded together to strip our contracts and ban key sections of the
Ontario Labour Act. I still strongly feel the necessary urge to get out on the streets to protest now too!
We have all seen the
MOU [Memo of Understanding] that was reached on
July 5th when our members were off on their summer holidays. Unfortunately, many of our TSU
[Toronto Secondary Unit] members were unable to attend the OECTA Provincial presentation at
Roy Thompson Hall in late
August. Many would not even have been aware of it.
I have received many antedoctal reports from our TSU members who were far off in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Others were cottaging without internet or snailmail connections. When they got a phone call, or went into town to check their email, they were totally shocked. There were maybe 4 or 5 info pieces on the members only
OECTA Provincial website, which was hardly enough for piece of mind, even if they did have a password to read them. I'm glad if this blogspot was of some help in letting you easily access the great debate and different informative points of view that raged across the province this summer.
As you may know,
OECTA TSU will now be holding 3 meetings
across the city to hear and answer your questions and concerns. They will be:
Oct 1 at Senator O'Connor CSS, Oct 2 at St. Basil's and Oct 3 at Marshal McLuhan. Unfortunately we have not yet received info on whether our Provincial Executive members will be there. My understanding, at present, is that
TSU President Rene Jansen will be there instead. I will enquire further at our next executive meeting. One appreciates Rene's effort but does this seem right to you? No, it doesn't seem right to me either, whatever the reason or excuse.
As I mentioned in my last blog, we now know both
OECTA TSU and
TECT's [Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers]
retirement gratuities became little more than collateral damage when the MOU deal was reached. We were among the few OECTA units with retirement gratuities, which we have fought very hard to keep for many years. Our board couldn't believe it's good fortune! Neither unit president voted for the
MOU when
OECTA Provincial presented it to the local presidents at
COP last July. And now? We are told it's a done deal. Basically, our hard fought gains were a part of the trade off when
OECTA provincial decided to gamble with a roll of the political dice on the MOU and the
Ontario Liberal party.
No? Am I being disingenuous here? Go check the reader
Comments below my blogs from this summer. Listen to your colleagues often deep sense of anger and betrayal around your staffroom table. If anything, I have been accused of going too easy on OECTA Provincial's decision to sign the MOU, as well as our union's lack of participation in the
Bill 115 protests. I can accept that. My goal is not to indoctrinate or be pedantic. My blog attempts to provide links to all sorts of info from many different points of view so you can think and decide for yourself about the great controversy we face, even within our own ranks. Let me assure you though, it has not been easy to see provincial sit quietly on the sidelines, outside the forum of action and debate, unlike when we had a gun held to our heads by the
Conservatives, and even the
NDP in years past.
When OECTA says Bill 115 is unacceptable, that is not enough. I also have to question the letter we were sent by
President O'Dwyer after Bill 115 passed into law this week. I posted it in a previous blog. Here is a link, in case you wish to refresh your memory:
http://www.oecta.on.ca/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3jDIBNLI2cfIwP30GBjAyNLdyNzc4sgQ3cvI_1wkA6zePdQJ9dQI0N_A3_jQDMDI49QC_
I am uncertain about the tone and underlying message of this letter. Is OECTA just glad Bill 115 is out of the way so we can start local collective bargaining using the MOU? Maybe I am wrong. I hope so. I realize Bill 115 has a time limit to it, that can be extended an extra year. But what a fine tool the Conservatives now have for dismantling us, if as the polls suggest, they were to win the next election. Any strategizing on OECTA's behalf, as with the Liberal party, could soon backfire terribly for us all. Our tried and true friend; the
Ontario Labour Act, is now on "pause". Wouldn't it be a horror show if it were "turned off" or gutted and we were left with the
Ontario Ministry's Employment Standards. Read these and weep:
http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/es/tools/srt/coverage_government_teachers.php
OECTA has developed a
Vichy Mentality in the recent
education crisis. Normally as a teacher union, we can either vigorously oppose or isolate ourselves when we feel powerless to change an unfriendly education policy being forced upon us. At the union level one may protest vigorously or even engage in civil disobedience, like during the Harris Years. Or you could argue you're just too busy at school to worry about this now, and don't want to get involved, like many of our members as of late. On the other hand, if you
think Vichy, one will instead cooperate and modify our own policies to appease the perpetrator of our fears in hopes of saving our own butt, or at the least minimalizing the damage. Perhaps we argue a gun is being held to our head and we have no choice but to do so.
Perhaps I stretch the analogy too far. The original reference is to the
Vichy Government during
WW2, which tried to appease and cooperate with the
German invaders as they occupied
France. In our sense this does not include the same racial overtones. However, draw your own conclusions about how, or even if, there is a parallel to the
OECTA "Road map" and
Bill 115. Ouch! This hurts but it needs to be said.
Unfortunately for the Vichy, that didn't later stop the Germans from taking over all of France. The Vichy Mentality is a very risky and dangerous path to follow as the French later found out. Is it unlikely that this could happen to us? Or are we now safe with the Liberals after having signed the MOU? Let me take this one step further. Are you even sure the minority Liberal government will still be around a year from now? Unless they make an about face with us as teachers, which would seem highly unlikely, we had better now darn well hope the
NDP insurgence continues to grow, as we sit uselessly on the sidelines of the great political struggle going on all around us as OECTA teachers.
It is very hard for me to say this. I have worked for many years with our leaders up at OECTA Provincial and usually hold them with the utmost of respect. I also worked many years with the
Education Minister Laurel Broten when she even fully supported us in the Tory defeat, and fought alongside her to help keep them at bay for nearly ten years since. Still, it is wrong to sit in silence when we think something is wrong. It is our union. We would be in neglect of our ethical responsibilities when hard questions need to be asked, and we don't do so, for the good of us all.
OECTA's MOU agreement on July 5th, and indeed our silence and inaction during the passage of Bill 115, need to be directly addressed by our provincial executive with the membership now! Otherwise we face a great divide between those who support the policies and those who don't which will not just go away, even with the passage of time between now and our spring
AGM [Annual General Meeting]. Hopefully we will see some real leadership. It sure would be helpful, in Toronto at least for a start, on
Oct 1-3, since we have taken an especially hard blow with the
grandfathering of our gratuities. It will be truly sad if our own unit president, who voted against the MOU at the Council of Presidents, is left to explain and answer for OECTA Provincial's actions come Oct 1-3. Let's hope Provincial will meet and communicate more directly and more thoroughly with our members in the days ahead. The window of opportunity for a honest, and constructive membership dialogue is closing fast!
At first Vichy France seemed like a good idea. Are we going the same way with the OECTA "Road Map", and our lack of involvement in the Bill 115 protests?
IN THE NEWS: THE LINKS-
Thursday Sept 20:
Yes! I corrected the dates. Guess you can tell I haven't been around school much this week.
Fife + Drums in
KW Record as new
NDP MPP takes her seat at
Queen's Park. She's also using Liz's old constituency office.
Liz really could be a pretty good sort herself. See:
http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/802818--fife-takes-her-seat-as-mpp
Student protests 4 teachers in
Ottawa, at school and out front
MGuinty's office. See:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/09/19/ottawa-students-protest-to-support-for-teachers.html
Student protests in
York Public not 4 teachers, or so
Yorkregion.com frames it. The student movement at
Richard Green High School is really interesting, and the
Twitter debates go both way, as the students flex their political wings. I am trying to refind the link. Great stuff, but be wary of this articles spin:
http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1505506--angry-students-want-to-kill-bill-115
Who is using the students as pawns?
Rabble.ca reprints article from
Michael Laxer's blog. A well argued leftie spin. See:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2012/09/19/wdr-meet-teachers-protest.html
Boo hoo!
Waterloo Public board can't hire their friends any more without needing to consider
seniority too.
Record writer D'Amato tries to frame the issue in a stinkerooni of a
neo con reverse argument wherein she is worried that only white people will be hired now. Those big, bad unions! See:
http://www.therecord.com/living/article/802858--liberal-law-erodes-public-school-trustees-influence
Half the meet the
teacher nights are cancelled in
Greater Essex Public. Board acknowledges they are strictly voluntary. Teachers do need to be willing to meet parents during the
day, of course, and there is this thing called the telephone that the parents can use too. Too sarcastic? Maybe. See:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2012/09/19/wdr-meet-teachers-protest.html
Hudak's Conservatives sure are holding a lot of
nomination meetings between the beer drinking and golfing events as of late. What is he thinking? Hold your nose and go see:
http://www.ontariopc.com/events/
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives latest "thought provoker" is a video on
CB as a fundamental right. A Dummy Guide? Ha. This group is pretty good.
Go see: http://ontarionewswatch.com/onw-news.html?id=390
London Free Press Sun Media opinion piece by
Brian McLoud sees
McGuinty switching back to
Premier Dad. He's trying to move the polling numbers back to a more popular + relatively Liberal centre while the NDP and Conservatives fight it out from the extremes. Quit credible regardless of whether McGuinty is successful or not in reversing his bad slide. See:
http://www.lfpress.com/2012/09/20/polarized-politics-leave-room-for-liberals
Arf! Arf! Just 4 fun.
Lassie the reading dog to the rescue in
literacy fight! Makes 4 a good pet too. Actually, this is pretty interesting, though I just chuckled at first.
See: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/literacy/raiseareader/Literacy+drive+goes+dogs/7265653/story.html
Lassie Come Home!!! The students need you!!!
Wednesday Sept 19:
NDP lead provincial polls. Election would result in
Tory minority government,
a Liberal opposition, + party in
3rd place due to
distribution of votes + seats. See: http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/17/ndp-support-soars-while-liberals-plummets-poll
Toronto Star primer on the teacher dispute. A very general overview for folks who are just starting to wonder what it's all about. Doesn't mention
CUPE or support staff. Thanks 4 pointing that out Wendy.
See:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/education/article/1258722--what-s-going-on-at-school-a-primer-on-the-teacher-dispute
With local
Windsor OSSTF winning a
95% strike vote, talk of teachers' "ramping up" job actions start to spread.
ETFO strategy is to continue to try to negotiate new contract locally as if
Bill 115 never happened. Local union goal is to "increase pressure" beyond
no extracurriculars + McGuinty Mondays. The Windsor school board director is off to Toronto Monday to meet with
MOE. Start reading the tea leaves dear reader! Look for these same sentiments across Ontario as local unit strike votes receive very similiar if not higher numbers of teacher support.
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Teachers+ramping+action/7263613/story.html
Former ETFO head David Clegg speculates on
elementary teacher walkout as local strike vote tallies continue to pour in from across province. Voting should wrap up in
early October and then.....? If Liberal cabinet intervenes.....?
Ker Booooom! Expect mucho fireworks in weeks ahead. The wick has been lit! See:
http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1504771--cabinet-intervention-could-mean-chaos-union
Belleville Intelligencer.ca writer group's
Colin McKay discusses possibility of a
huge general province wide strike in support of the
teacher's fight for democracy in opposing
Bill 115. Hmmm. I'm thinking back to the 90's..... Widespread
labour support, rumoured to include
rotating strikes at
car factories and
nuclear plants didn't materialize in time, as the
all affiliate province wide teacher protest strike claiming "We won't back down" collapsed from within. At the time it was the largest in North American history. The province's teachers' were eyeball to eyeball with
Tory Premier Mike Harris and, with all due respect,
ETFO blinked. Many of us were at the massive Queen's Park Rally that day and can remember the terrible shock when it happened. Just as we were about to go over the top,
OECTA-OTF President Marshall Jarvis looked out from behind back stage and waved his head no. Still, that was then and this is now. You figure it out. I'm only an
ETFO member in spirit.
Read: http://www.intelligencer.ca/2012/09/18/teachers-fighting-for-democracy
For a good place to start, but not end, studying the
1998 protest strike, see the
Troublemaker's Website labour history account of strategy and events, which inexplicably doesn't refer to
OECTA or ETFO, nor do
I see reference to the
"Common Front", as our teacher + labour umbrella group was called:
http://www.troublemakershandbook.org/Text/Strikes/La%20Botz%20Days%20of%20Action.htm
Scott Stinson considers the yays + nays of the
no extracurricular strategy, and with reservations decides
nay, it will
backfire on the teachers. See:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/09/19/scott-stinson-at-this-point-ontario-teacher-protests-are-only-hurting-students/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Tuesday Sept 18:
Heeeeeeeeere's Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim! Hudak's on a real roll now:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1258045--hudak-says-wage-freeze-just-beginning-of-austerity-blitz
He'd also like to fix
arbitration so teachers don't win all the time, I 'd suppose even when we are usually right. Seig heil mein fuhrer!? Welcome to the second coming, with Lil' Mike:
http://www.am980.ca/news/local/story.aspx?ID=1775497&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Windsor Mayor doesn't think Tim's idea would make
arbitration any more fair:
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Ability+good+city/7257321/story.html
Dalton + Tim pretend they don't know each other. As if. See:
https://twitter.com/jmdjenkins/status/248096230918463488/photo/1
If politics doesn't work out for
Dalton maybe he could become a car salesman?
See: http://daltonsdeals.tumblr.com/post/31775826830/this-is-why-teachers-are-withdrawing-from
Hudak gives up politics to drive a tractor! Guess what he'd be good at raking up? One can only wish!
See: http://pics.lockerz.com/s/245579607
<<<Incorrectly included article on MPP pay raise has been removed. No huge increase.>>>
NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo at the
Runnymede CI student Dalton Monday walk out in
Toronto: http://daltonsdeals.tumblr.com/post/31775826830/this-is-why-teachers-are-withdrawing-from
Rabble.ca writer
Nora Loretto proposes a
real radical list of ways to protest
Bill 115 in her
"Dear Teachers" letter:
http://rabble.ca/news/2012/09/open-letter-ontario-teachers-dont-let-mcguinty-get-away#.UFiHnrKPWSo
Brampton students protest in support of teachers on
McGuinty Monday. McGuinty appeals to teachers
"better angels." Blech! Gag! You just stripped my
CB rights and
you want
me to do
what?!? http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Ability+good+city/7257321/story.html
Of course a lot of students disapprove too, with
extracurricular sports and fundraising being the most recent focus of attention:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/education/article/1258164--fundraising-clubs-latest-casualty-of-teacher-law
ETFO now posts links to media coverage of
protest events on their website. Wow. What a great idea! ;-)
Got to love their website. See:
http://www.controlyourfuture.ca/etfo_news/province-wide-media-coverage-of-protest-actions/