Teachers asked not to volunteer today
Posted Sep 12, 2012 05:06:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province’s teachers are expected to fire their first shot today in a war with the McGuinty Liberals over legislation to rein in school workers’ salaries.
Unions representing about 191,000 education workers say the legislation passed Tuesday strips workers of their constitutional rights in the name of fiscal restraint.
The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation is calling on its 60,000 members not to volunteer today for any extracurricular activities such as coaching sports teams.
OSSTF District 24 President, Rob Gascho tells 570 News their members will also be wearing black as a way to mourn the loss of their collective bargaining rights.
“Those are done out of our goodwill (extracurricular activities), and when you trash our goodwill that makes it pretty tough for our members to be able to go and say yes I’m going to keep doing those things, when their own government has stripped away their collective bargaining rights and basically said we don’t really value you.” said Gascho.
Meantime, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario wants its 76,000 members not to participate in school meetings on Mondays _ or any other days if they wish.
The minority Liberals argue the legislation, which passed with the support of the Progressive Conservatives, is needed to help them eliminate the province’s $15-billion deficit.
The legislation not only reins in wages, it also gives the government the power for at least two years to ban strikes and lockouts.
