Defeat this Victorian Lunch Tax!
The Saskatchewan Party’s latest attack is to levy a charge of $100 per elementary school child to supervise them during lunch time. Yes, you read that correctly; charge not for the food but to supervise children. And what happens if the parent can’t afford it?
Dustin Duncan, the Sask Party’s hatchet man, otherwise known as Minister of Education, again has a presented a schools’ budget with cuts to staff, and with this inventive new way to pick the pockets of working people.
Canadian Union of Public Employees local 8443, representing workers in Saskatoon’s schools, protested outside the provincial government in Regina on June 7. So far, the Sask Party shows no signs of backing down.
Colleen MacPherson, the elected chair of the Saskatoon Board of Education claims that “Every time we make a decision at the board table, the first question I ask is, ‘Is this good for students’?” Clearly this is not, yet she moved acceptance of the 2022-2023 budget even though it included cuts to make up for a $4.5 million shortfall in funding. She supposedly had tears in her eyes and stated that “This is death by a thousand cuts.” I may be a lowly Education Assistant with no experience as chair of the board, but if she is so against it, why did she approve it? Tears and words will not help; action and resistance are needed.
Even the right-wing Fraser Institute recognizes that Saskatchewan students have had the biggest cut in per-student funding in Canada between 2014 and 2019 with a drop of 11 percent. Things have not got any better in last few years. This is the sixth year of underfunded budgets.
Macpherson said the fee will be capped at $200 for families with more than two kids in the school system and noted parents experiencing financial hardships will be exempt. In the staff room this revelation has been met with nothing but revulsion. What do we do if we get told a 3-year-old Pre-K child has not paid? Do we say, “Tough luck kid” and kick them out of the school? Already the teacher in the class I work in provides fruit and crackers from her own pocket for those who cannot provide an afternoon snack. This is real workers’ solidarity — whether they have proof of payment or not, no child will be abandoned. In the heart of all workers is the understanding to protect those who cannot fight back.
Clearly the Saskatchewan Party, a lash up of Liberals and Conservatives, is to blame. According to them, the pay out of $414 million in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry is more important than whether young children are kicked onto the streets! Dustin Duncan has bragged about a supposed additional $7 million to support the hiring of up to 200 more educational assistant positions. I will look forward to not meeting them, as if they are hired it will be on casual or temporary contracts that gives no union benefits.
Of course, according to Duncan, the real blame is with the teachers themselves! The government funds would cover education if the teachers worked for nothing — great idea. He stated that “When we do our submission to the treasury board, first and foremost we look at what the biggest cost drivers are for school divisions, and in most school divisions the largest driver is teacher salaries.” A teachers’ pay increase has been negotiated at 2 percent, an “increase” that does not even cover inflation. Twenty-four full-time positions will be cut in Saskatoon, but the ruling party of Saskatchewan for over a decade claims this has nothing to do with them.
Duncan snidely added that “school divisions still have time to analyse their budgets before the deadline to bring them to the government in June.” Duncan implies that if school divisions don’t make further cuts, then they shouldn’t blame the government if “overpaid” teachers are throwing kids out at lunch!
Resistance is needed. Education workers cannot rely on the opposition NDP — they have shown little appetite to mobilize against the Sask Party. The school boards are accepting the cuts, perhaps with a tear, but no opposition.
Education workers have already in their hands the sharp weapon of organized labour. CUPE local 8443 are already organizing via social media and lobbies of the legislature. Socialist Alternative urges workers’ unity to oppose the cuts including workplace resistance, such as work-to-rule, building to strikes. This means building links around a plan of action among CUPE, SEIU (who also organizes education workers), Saskatchewan Teachers union and parents. Building links with other public sector works such as in health, who are also facing cuts, will strengthen our power.
Socialist Alternative have fought and won against toxic enemies. In Seattle, our socialist councillor Kshama Sawant won the first $15 minimum wage in a large city in North America. This, and other victories, enraged the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos. Sawant went on to win an Amazon tax that raises $240 million a year from the biggest corporations and is used to fund building public housing. The rich tried and failed to recall Sawant; she has won four elections because she stands up for working people.
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