DAN Faculty in the News
Johanna Weststar was recently quoted in the Huffington Post regarding the Ontario Teacher's Strike situation.
Excerpt from the Huffington Post:
How Ontario's Teachers' Strikes Could End - But Won't Anytime Soon
There hasn't been another Canadian teachers' strike quite like this one.
Ontario's teachers, all of whom are currently engaged in either rotating strikes or work-to-rule campaigns, are enjoying unusually strong public support, said Johanna Weststar, an associate professor at London, Ont.'s Western University who studies industrial relations and labour issues.
"I think teachers can very easily start feeling embattled in these disputes," she told HuffPost Canada. "And in the past there wasn't always support for teachers."
Public sector strikes are public relations battles more than anything else, Weststar said, so winning public opinion is key.
"It may be unfortunate to say … but many times it does come down to power and influence. It’s not necessarily about the merits of an argument."
