Like many parents, Nancy Augusto is feeling the impact of the massive teachers’ strikes that have caused disruption provincewide.

But for this already-struggling Toronto mother of three, it hit hard because she had to work and her ailing husband, who has a debilitating back injury, was forced to care for the kids.

“It’s really, really hard and then these teachers are taking strikes and I can’t take the day off,” she said Wednesday, while working a minimum-wage job at a kiosk in the Dufferin Mall. “It doesn’t work for people like us.”

Her comments were in response to a series of rotating one-day strikes by educators sparked by contract disputes between teachers’ unions and the province. On Monday, Toronto’s public elementary schools were closed, followed Tuesday by all public high schools in the city and all Catholic schools in the province.

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Read our explainer on the Ontario teacher strikes | Is school in or out? What you need to know about the largest teacher job action in two decades

As students across the city were back in class Wednesday, the Star visited the bustling west-end mall, nestled in a working-class neighbourhood that is increasingly gentrifying, to speak with parents about the labour unrest. Some fully support the teachers, some are frustrated and almost everyone is wondering how many more one-day strikes there will be.

The union representing public grade school educators — Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario — will hold rotating one-day strikes impacting various school boards for the remainder of the week. And next Monday, members will walk off the job in Simcoe, Waterloo, Keewatin-Patricia and Penetanguishene Protestant Separate school boards and on Tuesday in Kawartha Pine Ridge, Hastings-Prince Edward and Upper Grand school boards, as well as Moosonee and Moose Factory Island school authorities.

Cacildo Mesquita, whose children are 7 and 3, worries the strikes are disruptive for students, but supports the teachers, adding “we need (them) because without them our kids will be nothing.”

Because he’s separated from his wife — and is currently between jobs as a carpenter — he spent Tuesday with his kids, taking them to the Eaton Centre and a pizzeria, adding, “for me it was good.”

But Augusto, whose children are in Grades 5, 3 and kindergarten at St. Bruno Catholic School, wasn’t able to take the day off Tuesday — one of the two days per week she works at the mall, on Dufferin Street near Bloor Street West. The family relies on her income because her husband, who used to work as a cleaner, is now off because of a back injury that makes it painful to bend and do things with the kids.

“I don’t have the income to put my kids in a daycare (for the day),” said Augusto, adding food and rent costs put the family on a tight budget.

While she didn’t know much about the government’s financial offer for parents impacted by school closures — between $25 and $60 per day, depending on the child’s age — she intends to look into it and apply. As of Wednesday morning, the province had received almost 193,000 applications.

Shazia Samani, who works in retail at the mall and earns minimum wage plus commission, says her husband took Monday off to stay with their daughter, who’s in Grade 3.

“I know teachers are doing a lot,” said Samani, noting they’re also fortunate to have weekends, summers, Christmas holidays and March Break off. “They’re having a very good life … I think they are getting paid very well … If I compare myself with them, they are in a very good (position).”

Parents support teachers on key issues, such as protecting full-day kindergarten and smaller class sizes — the government wants to boost high school averages from 22 to 25, down from 28, which will result in thousands of lost teaching jobs and fewer courses. But some aren’t as sympathetic to the teachers’ request for a 2 per cent cost-of-living raise.

Giving the unions raises at the rate of inflation would cost Ontario $1.5 billion annually by the fourth year, says the education minister, who has also noted that public high school teachers make an average salary of about $92,000.

The government says salary is the sticking point and is offering a 1 per cent yearly increase, in line with recent public sector wage-cap legislation.

“Where is (the government) going to get the money to pay all these teachers?” asks Augusto. “I wish I could walk off my job and strike and ask for more money. I can’t do that.”

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Meanwhile, Jordan Kern, whose son in Grade 2, is “100 per cent” supportive of teachers — his wife visited the picket line at his son’s school Monday with coffee for them.

“I just don’t know what the problem is in terms of getting the educators what they deserve,” said the touring musician who was home Monday with his son and 2-year-old daughter.

“Educators are so undervalued in our society, it’s such a shame. It’s such a big deal to have our children, not only cared for, but educated.”

Similarly, Marcia Pereira, who has two children in a Catholic grade school, supports the teachers saying “they’re overworked and underpaid.”

She says teachers are already grappling with large classes, fewer resources and supports, noting her son in Grade 1 has a speech delay and hasn’t gotten the necessary attention.

The stay-at-home mom, who also has a pre-schooler, took care of all three kids Tuesday, admitting it was “a little bit stressful.” If there are future one-day strikes to hit Toronto schools, her kids can again stay home with her — but she worries about them slipping academically.

“I’m sympathetic to a certain extent — until it starts impacting their education.”

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