For Immediate Release – August 17, 2015
TORONTO, ON – Sam Hammond was re-elected president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) at its Annual Meeting today for a fourth term. He has served as ETFO president since 2009.
“I am proud to lead a union that is united in its resolve to do what’s right for public education, our teaching and working conditions and student learning conditions,” Hammond told 800 delegates at the meeting. “We are educators and it is our work that continues to make Ontario’s education system one of the best in the world.”
“We are facing a government and a school board association that want to roll back a decade of negotiated classroom improvements and compromise the ability of teachers to do what’s best for their students in the current round of central negotiations. Teacher preparation time and professional judgment, for example, are critical to providing students what they need to succeed.”
“In 2012, ETFO members took a principled stand against Bill 115 to protect the fundamental rights of all working people. In 2015, we are taking a principled stand to stop the erosion of teacher professionalism that is a pillar of Ontario’s education system.”
Hammond, who served as an ETFO vice-president from 2004-2007 and as first vice-president from 2007 to 2009, was elected to the provincial Executive in 2003. He has been a teacher in Hamilton-Wentworth for 27 years and has taught physical education and health from Junior Kindergarten to grade 8. He served the Hamilton-Wentworth ETFO Teacher Local as chief negotiator and grievance officer for five years.
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.
