August 28th at Queen’s Park

Length: 0:07:28
Uploaded: 4 Sep, 2012

Recording Date: 28 Aug, 2012
Recording Location: Queen's Park, Toronto
Logsheet: none
Language: English
Topical for: Timeless
Status: Complete, Ready to Air
Copyright:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Program Title: Rally for Education
Description: Over 5,000 teachers and their supporters from across the province converged on Queen’s Park on Tuesday, August 28th to tell Ontario’s politicians that betraying education professionals, tearing up collective agreements and curtailing the rights of citizens is an unacceptable way to govern.

Thousands of participants from Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario , the Onatrio Secondary School Teachers Federation and CUPE – joined by members of the public and other unions – attended the Queen’s Park Rally for Education. Rally attendees publicly rejected the McGuinty government’s self-serving attempts to create an artificial crisis in education by introducing anti-collective bargaining legislation with language that puts the government’s actions above the courts and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The infamous "Putting Students First Act," which the government intends to introduce in the Ontario legislature would force contracts on teachers that would rein in wages and cut benefits, a clear concession. It would impose terms such as the elimination of the banking of sick days that can be cashed out at retirement. It also strips away collective bargaining rights and erodes the rights of all public sector workers. Teachers unions say they are prepared to fight the bill all the way to the Supreme Court.

ETFO President Sam Hammond was the opening speaker at the Queen’s Park Rally for Education. He expressed disappointment that the Liberal government has repeatedly refused to bargain in good faith during this round of negotiations and, instead, is trying impose punitive legislation that attempts to exempt the government from judicial review.

I had a chance to speak with teachers and their supports at the rally about what they thought of the legislation and the government’s attack on teachers and the education system in general, here's what they had to say…

Host(s): Omme-Salma Rahemtullah
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