Let's be clear. Teachers are not striking for more compensation. No matter how much we emphasize that we are on the picket lines to protest cuts to education that include increases to class sizes, the implementation of mandatory e-learning, and cuts to special education funding, Minister Lecce will try to get you to believe otherwise. While there are many supporters who understand what is at stake, there are still those who have been misinformed and subscribe to the notion that teachers are just looking for a pay raise.

Since more money is what people say we want, then let's talk about money.

Since 2012, we had four years of frozen wages. In 2013 we took 0 per cent and two unpaid days. In 2016 we got 1 per cent and 0.5 per cent each year afterwards. Over an eight-year period we saw under 4 per cent increase in wages. Inflation in that same period was 14 per cent.

If salaries were our "powerful" union's primary focus, why would we accept this?

Now this government is proposing significantly increasing our workload and doing it for less than inflation. Would you accept that? Some say teachers should because they project the notion that teaching is a noble profession and they should accept this out of the goodness of their hearts.

Should we expect doctors/nurses/health-care workers to treat more patients with less pay and no support? Should we expect lawyers/accountants/social workers to see more clients for less pay and no support? Should we expect tradespeople to take on more projects for less pay and no support?

Here's some humbling math to put into perspective how little teachers are asking. This government wants to impose 1 per cent for all public sector workers. First off, unilaterally imposing contracts goes against collective bargaining in good faith. This is not negotiating. Secondly, we are asking for an additional 1 per cent. The average teaching salary is debatable and the reports range between $60,000 and $95,000. I can tell you that in my school board, the top grid teacher gets paid $98,000. This is after two post secondary degrees, 12 years of teaching experience, and a postgraduate additional qualification course or master's degree. Let's even assume the average is $98,000, then 1 per cent is $980 per year before taxes. Take off taxes it's about $650 per year. Divide that by 12 months and we are talking about $65 per month. That is like the cost of a tank of gas.

Do you think we are out striking, and forfeiting our salaries each of these days, for the price of a tank of gas? And, if you agree that the average teaching salary is closer to $83,000 which is what StatsCan reports is the average salary of any person with an undergraduate degree, we are talking about $55 per month. As for educational assistants and administrative staff who are part of our union and also on the picket lines, they are looking for what amounts to a bag of chips. No one is on the picket line fighting for this. The total amount of money lost in wages while standing on the picket line is far more than what we are asking.

We are fighting for no increases to class sizes. When the average is 22, classes run as high as 34 kids and most mainstream classes at 28-32. If Lecce increases the class size average to 28 or 25 with no cap, teachers will have classes of high 30s and low 40s. It doesn't take too much imagination to recognize that a kid sitting in a class of 40 will not receive the attention, guidance, and support they would if the class size was smaller.

Teachers are not striking for a pay raise. We are striking for our working conditions because our working conditions are our students' learning conditions. Every day teachers connect with students and help them grow. If Ford and Lecce get their way, we will struggle immensely to do this, not because of some perceived bitterness that we will hold against students, but because if a class has 40 kids in a 75 minute period, I can't even devote two minutes to a child! People who support us understand that this is an attack on the quality of education in Ontario — do you?

Shoba John teaches math for the Halton District School Board