Nova Scotia Teachers Union abandons strike mandate, capitulates to Liberal attack on education

 

Nova Scotia Teachers Union abandons strike mandate, capitulates to Liberal attack on education

By
Roger Jordan

3 March 2018

In a transparent capitulation to the provincial Liberal government’s reactionary education “reform,” the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) has ruled out calling an illegal strike.

The announcement, made Thursday by NSTU President Liette Doucet, is a betrayal of the province’s 9,600 teachers and the fight to defend public education. It comes just over a week after the overwhelming majority of teachers voted by an 82.5 percent majority to strike, and do so in the face of threats by Stephen McNeil’s Liberal government to fine the union up to $10,000 per day and each teacher up to $1,000 per day of job action.

In spite of this vote and the strong public support teachers enjoy, Doucet coupled the release of the strike vote results with an announcement that the NSTU leadership was suspending any decision on strike action and calling on the government to hold talks. She subsequently met with Education Minister Zach Churchill and Premier McNeil to hammer out a rotten “compromise” behind the backs of the teachers.

Doucet is boasting that her talks have resulted in important changes to the government’s education reform legislation, which was tabled by Churchill in the provincial legislature Thursday morning. A union press release spoke of “numerous compromises by the McNeil government,” making the calling of a strike unnecessary. With evident relief, Doucet asserted, “A strike has been averted.”

The NSTU’s miserable climb down has nothing to do with defending the interests of teachers, but with protecting the privileges of the union bureaucracy.

One change the Liberals agreed to, which was presented in the corporate-controlled…

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