Here are some reasons why taking away teachers right to strike is a bad idea
Family get-togethers are much quieter in these post-election days. Dinner time debates over climate change or whether Andrew Scheer ever really was an insurance broker have thankfully faded into the background.
However, Ontarians shouldn’t get too comfortable. Tense negotiations between the Ford government and various teachers’ unions mean strikes and job actions may be on the horizon. Recent news that 98 per cent of public elementary teachers and education workers gave their union a strike mandate makes it seem almost inevitable.
Nobody likes strikes. Not only do they interfere with a student’s learning, but child care issues become a huge and often costly challenge for many families.
The result may be a new dinner conversation topic: “Why don’t we just stop the insanity and outlaw strikes by teachers?”
This is not a novel idea. Provincial governments have talked about banning teacher’s strikes in the past and Premier Ernie Eves promised it during the 2003 election.
This is where I come in. The Liberals opposed the idea and as one of their candidates, I participated in numerous front-porch debates defending a teacher’s right to hit the picket line.
To those wishing to hold their own at the next family dinner, let me share some of my favourite arguments. First, it is important to recognize that banning strikes might not even be possible. Over the past number of years, a series of rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada reinforcing bargaining rights could render any legislation unconstitutional.
However, even if you could find a formula that withstood a court challenge, that isn’t the way we do things in Canada. Our labour relations system is adversarial by nature. Each side keeps the other side in check through the threat of a strike or lockout — it keeps things balanced.
“But then why don’t we allow police or nurses to go on strike?” your know-it-all brother-in-law will surely ask. “Isn’t it true that TTC workers can’t strike?”
It’s true. We don’t allow police or medical personnel to strike; and although teachers are important, are their services as essential? Does a teacher strike really threaten the immediate health and wellbeing of Ontarians? And yes, TTC workers can’t strike. But they also hold the power to virtually shut down Canada’s largest city.
Then there is the myth of cost savings. Your right-wing uncle will probably argue that preventing overpaid teachers from striking could save millions in pay raises?
Unfortunately for your uncle, that’s not the way it works.
When a profession is forbidden to strike, pay raises are usually negotiated through a binding arbitration system. Arbitrators tend not to pay much attention to the taxpayers’ ability to pay — governments have lots of money, don’t they? All you have to do is look at the generous settlements awarded to police and firefighters over the past few decades to realize that banning strikes doesn’t automatically result in cost savings.
And what about the long-term health of our education system?
Isn’t it in everyone’s best interests to have teachers who feel engaged and respected by the government?
When a profession is forbidden to strike, pay raises are usually negotiated through a binding arbitration system
Teachers and educational workers are frustrated with changes imposed by the Ford government. What kind of message does it send them if instead of discussing these issues and negotiating fairly, we take away a key tool in labour negotiations — the right to strike?
I am a parent of young kids and desperately want my kids’ school year to proceed uninterrupted.
However, I also want those who work in the system to feel supported. As the chair of the Simcoe County District School Board put it in 2003: “Our teachers work very hard and deserve to have their contributions valued and respected ... You don’t strengthen relationships by taking away people’s rights. The student will thrive in a harmonious environment.”
In our rather polarized world, it may take you until dessert to drive that last point home. But it is a crucial argument.
And full disclosure, I was there at the end of the Dalton McGuinty years when we tried to impose a deal on teachers, including limitations on their ability to strike. The resulting strained relations did nothing for Ontario’s students and demonstrated the importance of maintaining this important right.
John Milloy is a former Liberal MPP and cabinet minister currently serving as the director of the Centre for Public Ethics at Martin Luther University College and Practitioner-in-Residence in the Department of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. Email: jmilloy@luther.wlu.ca. A version of this was originally published at QP Briefing.