OTTAWA, Ontario — Thousands of teachers, custodians, education assistants, librarians and other school workers and their supporters rallied here and in four other Ontario cities Oct. 24, under the theme “Together For Publicly Funded Education.” Over 250,000 education workers represented by five unions are planning strike votes in November. Their contracts expired at the end of August.
“Here are different organizations speaking with the same voice,” Mary Fowler, vice president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, told the rally on Parliament Hill. Rallies took place at the same time in Sudbury, London, Thunder Bay and Queen’s Park.
Rally emcee Stephane Paquette told the crowd, “Class sizes are growing. I was in Sudbury yesterday and there were 36 students in one Grade 7 class. How do you expect those students to learn, those teachers to teach?”
The five unions represent Catholic school teachers, secondary school teachers, elementary school teachers, francophone school teachers, support staff and others, all of whose representatives spoke, describing deteriorating conditions in the schools.
“We’re asking for more staff, smaller classes, real safety protections and pay that reflects the work we do,” said Tina Ryn of the Education Workers’ Alliance of Ontario, which represents education assistants. “We are not asking for too much, we’re asking for schools that work.”
An Ontario Teachers Federation study shows “a growing number of teachers leaving within the first five years.” Many cite unsustainable working conditions and the inability to get permanent employment as the reasons they quit. The unions point to a near 10-year low in government funding per student.
“This all began six or seven years ago. The government is taking away our rights,” secondary school teacher Melanie Bouffard told the Militant. “We’re at war — not with guns, but with information.”
“The Provincial Executive strongly condemns the federal government’s proposed expansion of its powers to intervene in lawful labour disputes,” the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation said in a statement opposing Ottawa’s new bill, C-39, which further attacks the right to strike. “Every provincial government in this country is watching what Ottawa does.”
The statement pointed to a move by the Ontario provincial government in 2022 to outlaw an education workers strike, which workers successfully defied. “Ontario’s labour movement stood together then, and we will stand together again.”
Student representatives, a spokesperson for the Ontario Federation of Labour and others addressed the rally, underlining the broad support for the fight. “I’m the proud parent of two autistic students who attend Ottawa schools. Families stand with education workers,” Kate Dudley-Logue of the Ontario Autism Coalition said. “The only reason the education system is standing is because of you. That’s why we’re standing shoulder to shoulder with you.”