The latest attempts by officials with the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) to dial up the volume or their labour dispute by engaging in province-wide strikes brought me back to 1997.
I was the Toronto Sun’s education reporter on Oct. 27, 1997 when 126,000 teachers left their classrooms to protest on the front lawn of Queen’s Park against cuts to education by then-premier Mike Harris.
On Tuesday, all ETFO teachers will walk off the job yet again, just as they did last week.
Over what?
The province-wide strike of 1997 was all about protecting public education and about the kids — as it supposedly is now.
The education file was bloated, school trustees were useless (many used the job as a stepping stone to loftier political ambitions) and teacher unions, headed by overpaid militants, believed they were untouchable in 1997.
Nothing much has changed in 23 years.
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