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Hammond did not deny the report, but accused OPSBA of trying to deflect attention away from the recent report card debacle, in which students were told they were not — then suddenly were — going to get end-of-term report cards.

Ontario parents have to take care of their own children, which is probably why they have very little patience for this sort of union-board bickering, never mind the puerile work-to-rule tactics that seem to have little impact on the government but catch students in the eye. Wait a second, you mean refusing to input marks on report cards won’t compel the government to cede to our demands? No? Well, surely it will enamour parents to our cause. No? Darn. OK, well, let’s reconvene after the summer holidays.

ETFO’s yet-to-be-tabled salary request is not entirely without precedent. Indeed, this figure squares with yearly increases teachers across Ontario enjoyed during the majority of the Dalton McGuinty era (about 2% to 3% annually, from 2004 to 2012), before the province slapped a wage freeze on public sector workers in 2013. The difference now, compared to then, is that Ontario is broke and Premier Kathleen Wynne has committed to eliminating the province’s $8.5 billion deficit by 2017-2018. While the government attempts to realize that by hosting fire sales of Hydro One and other provincially owned land and buildings, it has remained steadfast in maintaining that there is no new money for teachers, and that this round of bargaining must achieve “net zero.”