Strong
disapproval for union, school board payouts
Most do not believe Education Minister’s explanation
TORONTO November
5th, 2015 - In a random sampling of public opinion taken by the
Forum Poll™ among 1158 Ontario voters, two thirds disapprove of the $2.5
million paid to teachers’ unions for negotiating expenses (67%) and the $4.2
million payment made to school boards (66%). Disapproval is especially strong
in Eastern Ontario (69%), among PC supporters (91%), those with no children
(69%), the oldest (78%) and those in mid-income groups ($40K to $60K - 76%).
It should be
noted that one half of Liberal voters also disapprove of these payments (49%).
6-in-10 don’t believe government explanation of payments
Six-in-ten
voters say the government’s claim that these types of payments are “the cost of
negotiating contracts” and that they are incurred regularly in private and
public sector bargaining (60%), while fewer than a quarter believe this
statement to be true (23%). Belief that these payments are standard operating
procedure is common to the youngest (39%), the least wealthy (often a proxy for
youth - 30%), provincial Liberals (33%) and New Democrats (31%) and the best
educated (post grad - 32%).
“It may or may not be true that these payments are common in
collective bargaining, but the important thing is the Ontario voters don’t
believe it, and they don’t like the payments one bit," said Forum Research President, Dr.
Lorne Bozinoff.
Lorne Bozinoff,
Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416)
960-9603.
