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Picketers parade outside MPP Crack’s office GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
tention has been the impact of Bill 115 on teachers, but other school district staff are affected too. “This bill also affects all the support staff within the schools,” she said. “Office staff, librarians, custodial staff, technical support, and special needs support staff. A lot of people don’t realize this.” Dina van den Hanenberg, SSTO district local president, noted that one of the main concerns for casual and long-term substi- tute teachers is the government’s interfer- ence with the bargaining process. She said the unions have all continued to work with the school district to reach a settlement without the need for strike action. “We’ve demonstrated that we can be rea- sonable,” she said. “We’ve shown that we can be professional and do things through the proper process and without affecting the students.” While the controversy over Bill 115 contin- ues, including a court challenge launched by the OSSTF, several candidates in the cur- rent leadership competition for the Ontario Liberal Party have come out against the leg- islation. Most of the comments from union representatives at the Rockland protest rally were positive. “That shows that some Liberals are think- ing twice about the process,” said Van den Hanenberg. “It gives us hope,” said Thomas, “but we’re also a little skeptical.” “We’re fighting even more now,” said Ea- man.
ROCKLAND | It was a cold and dreary hour under grey November skies for several dozen teachers and school support staff who showed up for an afternoon of picket duty outside of MPP Grant Crack’s Rock- land office. But they were cheered by the honking horns of passing motorists showing sup- port in the Nov. 23 protest rally against Bill 115, the provincial legislation that freezes wages for teachers and support staff and gives the Education Ministry power to force contract settlements on the unions and school districts. “We’ve lost our rights to collective bar- gaining,” said Danny Thomas, teacher presi- dent for the Upper Canada District local of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF). “Nobody could have imagined a Liberal government would pass this kind of legislation.” The Rockland protest rally was the fourth of five such gatherings at MPP offices planned for the Upper Canada school dis- trict union locals. The last one of the series will see the Perth office in Lanark County of Progressive Conservative MPP Randy Hillier targeted. Also sharing in the protest rally series were members for the Secondary School Occasional Teachers local district 26 (SSOT),
which represents casual and long-term substitute teachers, the Elementary Teach- ers Federation of Ontario-Upper Canada local (ETFO), and members of the Cana-
dian Union of Public Employees local 5678 (CUPE), which represents school support staff. Laura Eamn, chief steward for the CUPE local, noted that the main focus of at-
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