5 Ontario education unions hold strike votes as cuts squeeze classrooms |
Five major unions representing Ontario education workers will hold strike votes in November. Their contracts expired Aug. 31, 2026.
The move signals a potential showdown with Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government after many months of warnings about deteriorating learning and working conditions in the province’s schools.
Strike votes do not necessarily mean that workers will walk off the job. In fact, 95 per cent of labour disputes in Canada are resolved without a strike.
Unions use strike votes as a pressure tactic to signal to employers that workers are united in their cause. The co-ordination of the unions’ votes is a clear message to the government that they’re prepared to collectively pursue their goals.
Why are unions now sending this message? The current stall in negotiations follows the provincial government’s indication to unions that it wants greater control over negotiating issues, such as staffing timelines related to transfer, surplus and redundancy, as well as professional development funding and contracting out.
This comes as unions say classrooms are under severe strain driven by the government’s chronic underfunding of education.
Greater control over staffing?
A move towards greater government control over staffing would fall in line with the Ministry of Education’s centralization of power, following a provincial takeover of eight school boards and restrictions on the power of elected trustees.
Unions know that exerting greater control over costs via centralization can be translated into additional cuts (and more underfunding and erosion of working and learning conditions).
Centralization also cuts out democratic input by local workers and their unions (and parents and trustees).
Read more:........