For Immediate Release – August 17, 2015
TORONTO, ON – Susan Swackhammer, a teacher with the Grand Erie District School Board and former president of the Grand Erie ETFO Teacher Local, was today re-elected first vice-president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) for another two-year term.
“We cannot accept the faulty mantra that we can’t afford decent public services or pay the people who provide them. The students in our care and society at large demand better. Our students must have the resources that will help them succeed and that is particularly true for our most vulnerable students,” Swackhammer told over 800 delegates to ETFO’s Annual Meeting in Toronto.
“Many provisions related to teacher professionalism and classroom improvements were fairly negotiated in collective agreements over the past decade. Our members expect to see that those working conditions- which are directly related to student learning conditions- are maintained during the current round of central bargaining.”
Elected to her current position in 2009, Susan has taught all grades from Kindergarten to grade 8. She served as president of the Brant Teacher Local of the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) from 1991-1995 and began serving on the FWTAO provincial executive in 1995. She was one of the founding executive members of ETFO and served as its first vice-president from 1998-2000.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents 76,000 elementary public school teachers and education professionals across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada.
