Juno News - It’s time for regular teachers to take back control of their unions

00:00:00.000 We've been told since March, hashtag, we're all in this together. We got to rally together and

00:00:09.980 do what we can to get over these pandemic hurdles. But it looks like one group of people did not get

00:00:15.480 the memo or are choosing to ignore it. I'm talking, of course, about teachers, or I should

00:00:20.680 clarify, their representatives, teachers' unions. All across Canada, but particularly in Ontario,

00:00:27.360 teachers' unions have been doing everything they can to present obstruction tactics against the

00:00:33.380 government, against the school boards. They do not have a can-do attitude, unlike every other sector,

00:00:40.240 industry out there, including essential workers, who has been doing what they can, been nimble,

00:00:45.200 been, okay, let's give this a shot, let's give it a try, turning on a dime to provide Canadians with

00:00:49.900 the services that they need, that they rely upon. It's quite remarkable to be seeing all of this

00:00:55.000 unfold. Ontario Premier Doug Ford calling on them to stop the sky is falling, the apocalypse

00:00:59.360 rhetoric. Please learn to work with us. And I think they make a very good point. You know,

00:01:04.480 I was reading a feature in Toronto Life magazine about all of this work action unfolding just prior

00:01:09.720 to the pandemic. In Ontario, there was job action just before the lockdown spread, and teachers were

00:01:14.160 protesting, they were doing rolling strikes. And they actually quote a couple union representatives

00:01:18.140 in that piece who say, oh, we were really, really saddened by this pandemic because, you know,

00:01:21.900 we have a natural dig in your heels and fight no matter what attitude. And with the pandemic,

00:01:26.960 we thought, oh, well, it would probably be bad PR if we were that aggressive against the

00:01:30.660 governments. Oh, too bad. We have to turn it down, tune it down a little bit. That was their first

00:01:34.680 thought. That was their thought, not concerns about the kids or the classroom or the broader public

00:01:39.980 health of our society, but that they have to tone down the constant conflict rhetoric that they have.

00:01:47.500 And like I said, it's important to distinguish between teachers and teachers' unions. I find it hard

00:01:51.820 to believe that all the teachers that I know, great people, and I really am always impressed

00:01:56.600 by how they talk about their work and their commitment to their work, that they go along

00:02:00.040 with all of this. But at a certain point, you have to say, these are your representatives,

00:02:05.120 your elected representatives. Why do you continually stand for this? I think part of the problem is that

00:02:12.140 all those teachers, and I believe it's the vast majority of them who are doing this, doing their jobs

00:02:16.600 because they want to do a good job and they care about the students and they care about positive

00:02:20.880 outcomes, not enough of them are actually involved in the union process. This is a very typical thing

00:02:26.680 that people who vote for student union elections, who vote for a lot of these sort of union elections,

00:02:31.660 teachers or what have you. I mean, I remember watching it unfold when I was a student at U of T

00:02:34.780 and their student union stuff. Most people do not vote in those elections unless they are activist

00:02:40.640 minded, unless they are already a part of that tight coterie of individuals who want to do

00:02:46.680 this agenda-driven stuff. So enough is enough. I think the regular decent teachers out there say,

00:02:51.600 I don't want anything to do with all these union antics. I just want to be a good teacher.

00:02:55.560 Look, I hear you. I'm with you. But you've got to get in the game more. You've got to set your union

00:03:00.900 straight and you guys have to start organizing and you have to take back your union because right now

00:03:06.320 the whole union is starting to make all teachers look bad. And quite frankly, I think that's wrong

00:03:11.500 and I think that's unfair.

Juno News - September 03, 2020