‘Red for Ed’: Ontario educators protest chronic underfunding

Sudbury teachers joined 250K Ontario education workers in a day of action on Wednesday, demanding smaller class sizes and an end to chronic underfunding.

On Wednesday in Sudbury, Ont., teachers and education workers from several different unions joined in solidarity to demand investments in publicly funded education from the province.

From chronic underfunding to larger class sizes and insufficient supports for special education, more than 250,000 educators from across Ontario united in a day of action on April 29.

Sudbury union leaders came together at a famous Nickel City landmark, the Big Nickel. They took a picture as a show of support for the province-wide day of action.

“Ontario education united that’s what we are doing here,” said Liana Holm, ETFO Rainbow Teacher Local President.

“We are giving a strong message that we are united, and we are ready to make sure our students’ needs are met and that is not negotiable as far as we are concerned.”

Sudbury’s MPP came to show his support

“It’s a variety of unions that have come together because it is a common goal supporting students at all levels – elementary and secondary and various unions,” said Sudbury MPP Jamie West.

That morning, teachers and educators at one public school took time on their break to show ‘Red for Ed’ and share their concerns.

“Smaller class sizes would make a big difference. We need to increase the teacher to student ratio. We need cap sizes on grades 4,5,6,7,8 and we would like to reduce the cap sizes that currently exist in kindergarten,” said Grade 3 teacher Laura Robinson.

Educators told CTV News that cuts are creating significant strains and challenges.

“The government, since 2018, has had $6.35 billion in education cuts and Ford has had enough time to fix these problems and he just hasn’t,” said Robinson.

In an emailed statement to CTV News, the press secretary for Ontario’s Minister of Education Paul Calandra said:

“The minister looks forward to continuing his work with all the dedicated and passionate educators as we work toward the shared goal of strengthening our system.”

The teachers and education workers say under the banner of ‘Stronger Together,’ the five unions are prepared for the next round of central bargaining with the current collective agreement expiring Aug. 31.

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