On September 16, Ontario education workers’ unions called a province-wide Day of Action in support of the 255,000 education workers currently in collective bargaining with the provincial government.
Spring member Valerie Lannon spoke with teachers and parent organizers at a public elementary school in Toronto about their working and learning conditions, their concerns about public education, and what we can do to win a better public education system for teachers, families, and students alike.
“Make the problems visible”
R.C. is a teacher at an elementary public school in Toronto, and a member of both Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) and Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).
Why are you and the other teachers out here today?
R.C.: We’re here to make some of the problems in education visible. We want to make sure that parents know […] about the cuts that are hitting education.The union wants to make sure that [these issues] don’t fall off the radar, because the government is very much slow-walking negotiations [while] we are currently without a contract.
As teachers, we’re very busy at the start of the year, but we’re aware that there have been a lot of cuts, especially to special education, [and aware of] the very large class sizes in this school and in others…and we want to make sure people understand [these issues].
What do you think it will take to win? Is there a role non-teachers can play to support you regarding smaller class sizes and more support for special education?
R.C.: We’re currently in negotiation [about these issues] with the government right now, but I’ve always said that parents getting involved is what really seems to move this government….The government knows that teachers will complain about class sizes, but it’s when parents start complaining, that’s when things really move.
It’s important that the union is solid about what we want. But when parents start to get involved, like at this school, that’s really important. That’s one of the reasons why we’re doing this here [today], because parent organizers said they would be here this morning handing [information] out, [and] we wanted to make sure that people saw that parents and teachers are [standing] together.
“We need more support”
J.R., a parent and council member at a public elementary school, spoke about conditions at the school.
Why are you here today?
J.R.: There have been growing class sizes and we’ve seen that we need more special education workers, more special needs assistants. [Instead,] it seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
This school needs a ton of investment. Parts of the school are falling apart, our playground is falling apart, and we just don’t see that investment. So I’m here to call attention to that.
What do you think it will take to win?
J.R.: Parent council cannot weigh-in on collective bargaining or politics. But we believe that parents raising their voices and calling attention to the issues is one way we can affect change.
Join the next provincial Day of Action for education workers on October 24.
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