Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thoughts on the One Day Ontario Teachers' Strike on Friday

So both the Ontario public elementary and high school teachers are having a one day job action or strike on Friday. This is illegal now that a collective agreement is in place due to Bill 115. In theory the government could seek to fine the unions and teachers individually. For Friday's action this doesn't seem very likely. Premier Dalton McGuinty is gone in a few weeks and considering his past actions, I doubt he will want to go out looking like the heavy and will tolerate this one day action like the ones in 2012. Any other job actions would be someone else's problem.

Will this be the only action for the remainder of the school year? I could see perhaps one or two days to greet the new Ontario premier, however if McGuinty actually fined teachers for Friday's action then probably not. The new premier will be constrained by Ontario's fiscal issues, so there's not a lot he or probably she could do to placate the teachers.

There could also be an immediate election one the legislature is finally called back from proroguing, however it is likely in the best interest for PC leader Tim Hudak to let the Liberals stew for at least a few more months. Ontario's third and fourth GDP numbers will be poor and continuing teacher unrest can only hurt the Liberals, to the benefit of both the NDP and the PCs.

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