Greetings,
Yesterday over 120,000 teachers in Ontario, Canada went on strike.
This is the largest teacher strike in north American history. Below is a
report on this historic event.
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The teachers of Ontario are staging a strike outside of the
limits set by existing labour legislation. It is called an
"illegal strike" because of this. Their aim is to stop the Harris
government from passing Bill 160. They found that it was
impossible to do so through other means.
They staged several rallies and demonstrations, including one in
Toronto which drew more than 85% of the teachers in the region.
When the government showed no sign of listening to their
concerns, the teachers unions warned that they would resort to
strike action if the government did not amend Bill 160.
The Harris government claimed it wanted to avert a strike.
Premier Harris removed Ed Snobelen as education minister and
replaced him with Dave Johnson who was presented as a "better
negotiator." Shortly after his appointment, a spokesperson for
Johnson told reporters that "the Minister is still looking
forward to seeing some proposals from the teachers unions." On
Monday, October 20, the teachers unions did just that. They
presented Johnson with a 21-page document outlining their
objections to Bill 160 and requested that the government respond
by noon the following day. In a letter to the teachers, Johnson
instead told the teachers that he found their "ultimatum
unreasonable."
As Phyllis Benedict, president of the Ontario Public School
Teachers Federation, told reporters at a press conference
announcing the strike on Sunday night, "We exhausted all the
possibilities that were open to us on the teachers side." Eileen
Lennon, President of the Ontario Teachers Federation, told
reporters: "We believe the quickest way to make this all end is
for the government to sit down and help find solutions to the
problems with the Bill." Education Minister Dave Johnson,
however, is characterizing the issue as one of "giving in." He
told reporters that he cannot "capitulate to the demands of the
teachers unions."
The teachers strike is an important struggle against the
attempt of the Harris Cabinet to concentrate more powers in its
hands in terms of education. In this respect, it is not only a
struggle in defence of public education, but also a significant
challenge to the Rule by Decree which forms an integral part of
the anti-social offensive and unrepresentative democratic system.
This Rule by Decree is not merely a gross disregard for
public opinion,or a reckless attitude on the part of the
government. The Harris government has systematically carried out
legislative reforms to give itself greater powers. The Omnibus
Bill, for example, gave various ministers sweeping powers over
public institutions, including hospital and school boards and
municipalities, to carry out institutional restructuring with
greater ease, by-passing the need to present legislation in the
Legislature. School boards and hospital boards have been stripped
of powers to facilitate the exercising of power by the Cabinet on
behalf of the financial oligarchy with the least possible
interference. The Harris government has also changed procedures
which allowed the Members of the Opposition to stall legislation.
Rule by Decree, and the blatant fashion in which the
government is exercising it, is withdrawing the most elementary
standards of democracy, including those which are flaunted by
this system of unrepresentative democracy, such as the process of
"public consultation". While the development of the Canadian
polity is demanding legislation that would actually enable the
people to excercise their political rights, including the
creation of mechanisms to resolve differences of political
opinion, the anti-social offensive is aiming to introduce a
political climate in which the struggle of the people to affirm
these rights is turned to ashes.
The withdrawal of the notion of a modern society in which it
is recognized that the people depend on the society for a living,
for their education, for health care, and social security is thus
accompanied with a broad attack on the very notion of democracy.
Rule by Decree is being introduced as what is best for society,
in the same way that in the field of the economy and social
programs, the dictate is that what is good for the tiny elite,
the financial oligarchy, is good for the majority.
TML DAILY, 10/97
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
