For workers whose wages have fallen behind, the prospect of not having to strike is tantalizing. Buttons on a person in a picket line outside the Toronto District School Board head office in December 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Trading the right to strike for binding interest arbitration is a minefield for unions.
Susan Hoenhous and other teachers of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario participate in a full withdrawal of services strike in Toronto on Jan. 20, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
For some teachers, this week’s rotating strikes in Ontario are a chilling reminder of the school fallout of 1995-2002, when Mike Harris was premier.
Teachers walk the picket line outside Northern Secondary School in Toronto, on Dec. 4, 2019.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Short answer: they don’t. But striking teachers often receive a bit of financial help during a strike from money they themselves have already paid to their unions.