ETFO President Sam Hammond highlights the work of the union over the past year.
President Hammond spoke directly to those who question the democratic nature of unions:
To those critics who suggest unions are not democratic or that we lack transparency, I say pay attention over the next several days. This Annual Meeting is our union democracy at work, and delegates play a central role in that process. You represent your 78,000 colleagues in deciding how our union will move forward.
He later discussed the programs that ETFO has developed and offered this year:
ETFO is one of the best providers of professional learning for educators in Canada. This year, like every year, there were hundreds of professional learning opportunities for our members through conferences, workshops and AQ courses.
We offer amazing opportunities for our members, our ETFO Union School, . . . and Still we Rise, the ETFO Local Leader Virtual Academy, our Early Years Website, to name but a few.
In July, for example, thousands of members participated in our Summer Academy and many of our sisters took part in the Sisters in the Struggle.
Our members’ values are reflected in the work we do as a union, and that’s why ETFO is an equity leader.
This year, through The Pride House That Kids Built, we helped bring the message to all Ontario elementary students and to all athletes and visitors to the 2015 TORONTO Pan Am Games that sport must be inclusive for all people, especially LGBTQ athletes and youth.
We will continue our work on this issue with the fall release of ETFO’s new LGBTQ Inclusive School Place Starts Here video and accompanying guide for educators which explores homophobia and transphobia in school communities.
This past year, ETFO developed a curriculum guide for teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 8 that introduces First Nations, Métis and Inuit histories and realities in age-appropriate ways.
We also toured Spirit Horse, a powerful play that challenges cultural stereotypes and confronts racism, to schools in Southern Ontario.
ETFO will continue to develop resources and programing to support FNMI education.
It is clear that ETFO does far more than negotiate strong collective agreements!
He later focused on collective bargaining and reminded the delegates of the need to remember the past while we negotiate for the the future. The rights and entitlements which ETFO members enjoy in their collective agreements today weren’t given to us by school boards, OPSBA or the Government, they were fought for by ETFO members standing firm over the years.
There were some incredible success on the bargaining front in the 2014-15 year as the collective action of ETFO members had a significant impact, particularly with the cancellation of EQAO.
Hammond sent a very clear message to the Liberal government by reminding them that ETFO has always been ready and willing to negotiate a fair collective agreement for our members. It’s been almost a year since collective agreements expired:
Why have you allowed OPSBA to control the bargaining agenda and sidetrack negotiations for months now?
He then compared the Liberal government’s education policy to the positions OPSBA has put forward in bargaining:
Education policy is based on the fact that outstanding education systems support teacher professional judgement yet OPSBA wishes to erode this.
The Liberal government introduced Full Day Kindergarten with DECEs and teachers working side by side together to provide the best possible program for our youngest students yet now they want to change this removing DECEs from the classroom for hours a week.
The Liberal government implemented class size caps in the primary grades because they know that lower class sizes are good for students yet now they wish to remove any staffing language from local collective agreements.
The government introduced a regulation that goes a long way to support fair hiring practices by school boards yet OPSBA wants to turn back the clock on this.
He then wondered:
Why is the Liberal government silent when OPSBA comes to the bargaining table with proposals that would undermine all these things? Saying nice things and talking about your partners in education might get you elected. But just saying nice things about wanting to restart bargaining isn’t going to cut it. We need action and a real commitment to negotiate in good faith.
Hammond’s final message to the government and OPSBA was focused on the upcoming September 1st bargaining date:
We expect the parties sitting at that table on September 1 to engage in serious bargaining that will result in a fair central collective agreement for our members that respects our past and the future of publicly funded public education in this province. Otherwise and let me be clear: If that doesn’t happen, then I say to the government and OPSBA you are in for the fight of your lives!
The delegates responded with a spontaneous and lengthy standing ovation.
