The Urgency of Change

Rob Scott (running for President of OSSTF District Twelve)

Website: Rob 4 President
As Rick has previously stated politicians do not lead, they follow. That statement
effectively elucidates the argument that change must come quickly in District Twelve.
Our current leadership insists that our members goals are best served by donating our
money to political parties and by lobbying those parties. These strategies only work when
more deeply pocketed and influential corporate interests dont care whats going on in the
public sector. But the moment corporations need to increase revenue by reducing taxes or
need a program of province-wide corporate welfare (code name: Austerity) the appearance
of influence in our lobbying and donating vanishes, like the illusion it is.
These strategies can only win small battles. They continually lose the war. We achieved
some cost of living raises when the economy was humming. But we did not address the
funding formula, we were not able to increase taxation to better serve our students, nor
were we able to limit the growth of the EQAO or the OCT. Win one small battle, and
celebrate while the others are ignored.
And when we lose, we get decimated.
Starting with the days of Bob Rae (NDP) in 1990, moving through the common sense of Mike
Harris (PC) to the putting students first era of Dalton and Kathleen (LIB), we have 26 years to
examine with all political parties being in power for some period of time.
The predominant recollection of 18 of those 26 years: Rae Days (frozen on the Grid and
mandatory unpaid days off); the Common Sense Revolution (frozen pay, more teaching
periods fewer teachers, and the elimination of OAC resulting in a 20% reduction in teaching
staff); and Bill 115, the abrogation of our constitutional rights to eliminate sick banks and
gratuities, with delayed grid movement and net zero everything. The other eight years, we
achieved cost of living.
Decimation: Success is the outlier, decimation is the norm.
Politicians follow. We need to make them follow us.
The $15 and Fairness campaign provides an interesting case study. In multiple American
cities, politicians have begun to move on the minimum wage, not because of lobbying or
political donations, but because they are following the will of the people led by an organized
movement.
Only when our leadership has a conversation with our membership and seeks to engage our
membership in collectively led direction will the OSSTF begin to matter again. Only when
teachers are directing our unions leadership will our members be able to lead our
communities in a conversation about education, about teaching, about crumbling schools,
about safe schools, about the mental health of students and teachers and about poverty,
discrimination, power and politics.
This election is important because its an opportunity to start a conversation. About whether
or not we will continue to lobby and spend fruitlessly, or whether we will focus on engaging
our membership, who will engage our communities, and together we will lead the politicians,
for the benefit of education and of teachers.
You can read Robs Platform by clicking this link: Rob's Teacher Focused Platform.