It would be nice to think that the slumbering masses have awakened to a new understanding of government and its relationship to the people, but I abandoned magical thinking a long time ago. Nonetheless, occasionally our overlords overplay their hand, and people do get a glimpse behind the curtain.
Such seems to be happening in Ontario, now in the midst of an education labour disruption that could have been so easily avoided, had our rulers not been consumed with their own arrogance.
A new Abacus poll reveals some interesting statistics:
... 62 per cent of respondents blame the provincial government for schools closing after thousands of education workers, including education assistants, custodians and librarians, walked off the job Friday. Meanwhile, 38 per cent point the finger at the workers.
Sixty-eight per cent of parents of school-aged children believe the Ford government bears the most responsibility, the survey found, while 71 per cent of respondents want the province to negotiate a "fair deal" with education workers, rather than continue with its current strategy.
Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Boards' Council of Unions, said the results of the poll show Ontarians support the education workers in their job action.
"This poll confirms what we already knew: that the majority of people support education workers, that they see through the Ford government's lies about working for workers and students, that they know $39,000 isn't enough, and that they believe workers' rights to freely bargain and strike if necessary must always be protected," Walton said in a statement.
"Seven out of 10 Ontarians want the government to negotiate a fair deal. That starts with repealing Bill 28, an unjust law which Ontarians know is like giving a schoolyard bully a sledgehammer."
Meanwhile, both sides are now appearing before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the government seeking a declaration of an illegal strike, CUPE arguing against that designation. Perhaps the desperation of the Ford cabal is reflected in the chief argument of its legal brainstrust:
Ferina Murji said strikes are prohibited in the midst of any contract, not just one that was ratified by union membership.
"A collective agreement is a collective agreement is a collective agreement," she said.
If one believed in the power of pithy sayings, one might be able to sum up the current imbroglio this way:
The Ford 'Progressive' Conservative government: not here for you.
