I’m not a political blog, I am aware of this, but the strike situation with education workers in Ontario right now is insane and if you’re someone who can’t see why these strikes are so important, you are part of the problem.
My mother was an English teacher for 30 years but is now retired. She stays in touch with her former colleagues, many of whom are still teachers. She spoke with one of them the other day, who is still an Educational Assistant. This woman has $400 dollars in her bank account, and will be spending $150 for a car repair. She has bills that companies are hounding her for that she can’t pay. Her husband is trying to get more work but they will most likely need to go to a food bank to survive. One of the students she works with attacked her the other day (the product of a breakdown where he wasn’t in control of his actions, and she has repeatedly stated she doesn’t blame him which shows the kindness in her heart). She has a bruise on her leg the size of a football because the kid threw a chair at her. Those are the kinds of things she has to go through for her job, and she is still not getting paid enough money to pay her bills and buy food to fucking survive.
Conservatives who do not want to raise wages for education workers will claim that school needs to continue no matter the cost. They will try to enforce this very real possibility that the government, for the first time in history, use the notwithstanding clause to prohibit further protest by teachers. They will happily celebrate the suppression of unions without ever seeing firsthand what EAs, guidance counselors, teachers, secretarial staff, and support workers in classrooms have to go through every day. So if you live in Ontario, please go picket if you can and support the education workers in your community. They deserve some love— and they deserve to get paid.
