On July 31, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) filed for conciliation after 10 days of bargaining with the Council of Trustees’ Associations (CTA) and the provincial government. RankandFile.ca spoke with Laura Walton, President of CUPE’s provincial bargaining agent, the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU), to discuss bargaining so far and the Continue readingBargaining stalled for Ontario’s education workers
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By Peter Hogarth “I feel like education has been moving in a really good direction; schools are getting that they have to be there to support students’ mental health, we have to take care of racism and make students feel safe and this is just setting us back in so many different ways.” Nicole Luinenburg, Continue readingTeaching the Tories a lesson
By Doug Nesbitt and David Bush Ontario secondary school students organized the biggest walkout in the province’s history on April 4. Somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 students from over 700 high schools participated. Walkouts even spread to elementary schools. This is the second major student walk out in the province since the Tories were elected. Continue readingOntario’s Spring: Students lead, labour must follow
By Yara Shoufani When I was deeply involved in the fight for Palestinian justice at my university, I found myself on a Zionist website called Canary Mission. This website features the profiles of hundreds of pro-Palestine activists, who are slandered as radicals and anti-Semites for their criticisms of the Israeli state and support for the peaceful Boycott, Continue readingDefending Palestinian rights shouldn’t put your job at risk
by Doug Nesbitt Recent Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) president Ken Coran shocked many teachers, education workers and trade unionists this past week when it was announced he would run as an Ontario Liberal in the London-West by-election later this summer. Why would Coran run for the same party that had used the authoritarian Continue readingKen Coran: Anatomy of a Sellout
by David Bush and Doug Nesbitt Over a month has passed since Bill 115 was repealed by the Ontario Liberals, but the contracts imposed on the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario remain intact and effectively unchallenged. This has led to several incidents of open dissent from the ranks of Continue readingDissent brews in the OSSTF
by Doug Nesbitt In the coming week, Ontario’s teachers, education workers and students will be turning up the heat on the Liberal minority government and Bill 115, which imposes a concessionary bargaining agenda on teachers unions and the school boards, and allows the cabinet to change tentative agreements and stop strikes without even legislative oversight. Continue readingKill Bill 115: Where is the movement going?