Citizens support making education workers essential to stop strikes

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A majority of Ontario voters say it’s time to make educators an essential service, according to a Maru Public Opinion poll.

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Opinion polls show disagreement over issues such as the use of binding arbitration and other clauses, but an overwhelming majority believe that educators should be an essential service. .

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A poll of 600 adults in Ontario, conducted this Monday and Tuesday, asked respondents how best to resolve such disputes.

“The public wants this issue resolved so that children and parents are left alone, and if strikes need to be banned to stop what is happening today, they are fine with that.” said John Wright, Mal’s executive vice president. “They want peace on this land.”

The vote began as 55,000 education workers were engaged on the second day of the strike and ended the day after trade unions, CUPE and the government agreed to return to the negotiating table.

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Asked whether disputes should be resolved by binding arbitration (a process that imposes a contract on both sides) or through ongoing collective bargaining. A negotiated settlement through collective bargaining won with 53% of the support.

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On the issue of reinstatement laws and the use of clauses in spite of workers leaving their jobs again, 44% said they would support such measures to reopen schools, while 56% said they would not. He argued that he would oppose such measures.

Wright said it was important to note that almost half were interested in being willing to use this heavy-handed option to help Ford to prevent further disruption to the school. .

Finally, on making education workers an essential service to prevent future strikes, the majority said they supported that path. A total of 59% of survey respondents supported the idea of ​​making education workers an essential service, while 41% did not.

“Making workers an essential service takes the hammer away from both sides,” Wright said.

For comparison, Mull said the estimated margin of error for a poll using a random sample of this size was 4.2%, 19 out of 20. This was done in an online panel.