Public sides with union over province in education labour fight: Maru poll

While the epic labour battle between the union representing 55,000 education workers and the province continues at the negotiating table after a brief impasse, a new poll reveals which side the public seems to be rooting for.

A Maru public opinion survey released on Tuesday finds that 59 per cent of polled Ontarians side with the union (CUPE) while 41 per cent are in the corner of the Doug Ford government.

The poll was conducted after “both the union and the government agreed to put down their strike and legislative hammers,” Maru said in a release, noting that most (41 per cent) believe the province is wrong in how its dealing with the dispute, compared to 24 per cent who feel the union is out of line.

Three in ten (29 per cent) say both parties are in the wrong.

Who is being more fair and reasonable in the dispute? Most (40 per cent) give the nod to the union, with just 24 per cent siding with the government, which was heavily criticized by some for its use of the notwithstanding clause.

Three in 10 (29 per cent) think that neither party is being fair and reasonable, while just seven per cent say that both parties are doing so.

One thing that seems to be agreed on, is that parents and students are stuck in the middle, although sentiment shifts to the province’s favour (31 per cent) over CUPE (26 per cent) when it comes to which side cares most about students returning to the classroom.

“This is offset by one quarter (23 per cent) who venture that both parties care about the students compared to one in five (20 per cent) who say that neither do so,” Maru said in its release.

Methodology: The poll was conducted on November 7-8 among a random selection of 557 Ontario adults. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 4.2%, 19 times out of 20.