Teachers and education workers are standing up against the cuts to education. This morning (Feb. 21st), hundreds of people gathered outside the office of MPP John Yakabuski for a protest and rally. For the first time in over 23-years all schools in Ontario have been closed due to a strike. Occasional teacher and President of the local Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (EFTO), Jamieson Dyer, says with these planned cuts students won’t be properly equipped when they graduate.
Dyer says they have eight strike locations across Renfrew County today including in Deep River, Barry’s Bay, Arnprior, Renfrew, Cobden and Pembroke. The local ETFO President says teachers are being forced to spend their own money on classroom supplies to purchase erasers, pencils, paint-brushes and more because funding isn’t there. Over 1,000 local education workers from the four major teacher unions are off the job today including upwards of 600 members at the rally in Pembroke. President of the Renfrew County Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF), Christian Sell, says they’ve received tons of support from the public and even have some former colleagues out on the picket lines today.
Sell says the OSSTF and ETFO are joined by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and the French teachers union (AEFO). He adds they’re fighting against the increased class sizes, mandatory e-learning and decrease in support for vulnerable students. Education workers from all across Renfrew County were bussed into Pembroke today for the rally. Education Minister Stephen Lecce says union leaders continue to organize further disruption while the government remains focused on getting a deal done to ensure students are learning each and every day. As a result of the job action today 200,000 education workers in Ontario are off the job and close to 2-million students are out of class.
Pictures from the job action today with hundreds of education workers and supporters on the streets in Pembroke.
Live video of teachers gathered outside the office of MPP John Yakabuski.
Hundreds of teachers are rallying in Pembroke today as a part of a strike that has closed all schools in Ontario.
Posted by 104.9 myFM on Friday, February 21, 2020