“This proposal does establish a clear pathway forward in this round of bargaining that could potentially end in arbitration,” said Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF).
[…]
“In the event that we’re not able to do that at the table, it will go to the voluntary binding arbitration and an arbitrator will be able to step in and say, 'Yep, here’s a deal that’s fair to education workers and fair for the students.”
Sorry, your president wants to go to binding arbitration? Get yourself a new president and negotiating team, OSSTF, that’s pathetic.
It’s probably a better deal than Ford would ever give
The public doesn’t side with teachers all that much in strikes because it negatively effects them
Teachers themselves might not want to strike
Withholding labour is the lever unions have to push their position in negotiations. Nothing else. Any union leader looking to put that aside right from the get go is also putting aside their responsibility to their union and should be put aside themselves. Praying that an arbitrator will gift you a fair deal is asking to get fucked. Look at what the last 40 years of collaborationist leadership has done for working people.
I didn’t say fair deal, just one better than Ford will give
If the members don’t have an appetite to strike then the union doesn’t have that power
Well the point of this deal is to avoid a strike vote at all, to go straight from negotiations to arbitration, so it doesn’t seem like OSSTF leadership is all that interested in finding out if the rank and file is willing to strike.
I would have assumed they were more connected with their members sentiments before a strike vote. If it’s not close then it wouldn’t be necessary
But I guess the union is so spread out that it might not be
We keep screwing over teachers, to the point that it won’t be long until our education ranks similar to the US. It’s long past time for this country as a whole, to heavily reinvest in teachers, and the education system in general.