A year after the first teachers strike in Nova Scotian history, unionized educators are once again at war with the province.
On Tuesday the Nova Scotia Teachers Union announced it would hold a strike vote on February 20 for its 9,3000 members.
The action is a direct response to the recently released Glaze report and its recommendations for sweeping changes to how schools in this province are run.
“Our education system is once again under attack from the McNeil government,” writes NSTU president Liette Doucet in a statement. “Last week we held information sessions around the province to discuss what the Glaze report will mean for our students, our classrooms and our profession. It was clear NSTU members agree the situation is dire and that as teachers and administrators we need to stand up for public education.”
If approved, the strike vote will give the NSTU a mandate to begin a job action. That doesn’t necessarily mean there would be a strike, however. Ultimately, the NSTU says that would depend on “if the government is unprepared to back down from implementing the Glaze report.”
The external consultant report by Avis Glaze called for 22 changes to the administration of Nova Scotia’s schools. Education minister Zach Churchill—currently touring the province trying to sell the idea—has promised the Liberal government will act immediately on half of those recommendations, including dissolving all seven English-based school boards, moving principals and vice-principals out of the union and creating a regulatory “college of educators” to license and discipline teachers.
“This is a moment where we need to press forward together with a focus on those who need us most—our students,” Churchill stated last month about the report’s findings. “We have great people working in the system who are completely committed and dedicated to our kids. It’s our system that’s fractured.”
Barely a year ago Nova Scotia’s teachers walked out on strike for the first time in union history. It was a largely symbolic protest in response to the government imposing a new contract on the NSTU through the Teachers’ Professional Agreement Act.
Tuesday’s release, just in time for Valentine’s Day, shows there’s no love lost between the teachers and the Liberal government.
“We cannot sit on our hands and let Stephen McNeil do to our schools, what he did to our hospitals,” states Doucet. “We need to be prepared to fight for what is right and just.”
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This article appears in Feb 8-14, 2018.
vote for a strike..any strike would be illegal and could lead to some teachers losing their jobs…the NSTU proved last year they are not there for their members…3-4 times they recommended taking the governments deal and every time their members voted no, thus showing they have no confidence in the Union leaders who refused to resign from their high paying cushy jobs…how the schools are run is not a matter for the teachers, their primary function is to teach our kids to read,write and do math…but we are pumping out illiterates from grade 12 as the system is failing them..teachers tell parents if your kid is suffering get a tutor…our system is not set to direct students towards a Community College or Trade school but University only..so if our kids are not university inclined then they get lost in the system as teachers only concentrate on the elite students
“We cannot sit on our hands and let Stephen McNeil do to our schools, what he did to our hospitals,”
Please elaborate…
Believe me, unions and their rhetoric have no pull here anymore. The idea that any change is against union policy is just embarrassing and is the main reason the Liberals got voted back in again, well, that and the PCs were going to allow fracking. The teachers don’t work for the union, they work for the people of this province, and you work for them. Why don’t you figure out how your membership is going to pay for their pensions without another 100 million dollar bailout, then come back and talk to us like you’re doing your fucking job.
THE funny thing is this call for a strike will evaporate the closer we get to March break as well you know ..the teachers have somewhere warm to be.
The NSTU are paid by union members. It is not their job to be concerned about the education system, they represent the teachers.