Two thirds of Ontarians oppose payouts to teacher unions, school boards, poll suggests

Ontario: A new poll suggests two thirds of Ontarians, as well as close to half of those who support Ontario’s governing Liberals, disapprove of payouts made to teacher unions and school boards during recent labour negotiations.
The poll conducted by Forum Research from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4 found 67 per cent of respondents disapproved of the $2.5 million pledged to unions representing public high school, Catholic and French language teachers, while 23 per cent approve and 10 per cent said they didn’t know.
Forty-nine per cent of respondents who identify as Liberal voters said they oppose the payments, while 57 per cent of traditionally labour-friendly NDP supporters said they disapproved of the payments.

It found a similar number, 66 per cent of respondents; oppose the $4.6 million pledged to the province’s school boards.
Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals has said the payments were necessary this fall because the government changed the way in which labour contracts are negotiated and made the process very complex. She and Premier Kathleen Wynne have also said that the practice is not unusual in collective bargaining in both the private and public sector.
The poll found 60 per cent of respondents do not believe the Liberals’ assertion that the payouts are common.
“It may or may not be true that these payments are common in collective bargaining, but the important thing is the Ontario voters don’t believe it, and they don’t like the payments one bit,” Forum Research President Lorne Bozinoff said.
Among Progressive Conservative voters, 91 per cent said they disliked the payments.
Between 2008 and 2015, the Ontario Ministry of Education paid a total of $3.71 million to teacher unions, according to records released last month.
The poll reached 1158 Ontario adults and has a margin of error of +/- three per cent, 19 times out of 20.
Under pressure from opposition parties, the governing Liberals agreed to allow the provincial auditor general examine the practice of compensating unions and school boards after negotiating a new labour deal.