“We will stay the course to protect teacher professionalism and teachers’ ability to use professional judgment when providing instruction to students,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond. “While we have agreed to return to the bargaining table on September 1, there must be movement at the table towards a fair collective bargaining agreement that respects teacher working conditions and student learning conditions.”

ETFO’s teacher and occasional teacher members will remain in schools to carry out their instructional duties with students and provide voluntary extra-curricular activities. They will not engage in certain activities under phase 2 including:

• participate in field trips;
• collect monies for school-related activities or participate in fundraising activities;
• respond to any electronic communication from the principal or vice-principal outside of the instructional day except where there is a safety issue involved;
• collect or distribute to students any paperwork required by the school or school board; or
• attend open houses or ‘Meet the Teacher” nights outside of the instructional day. (These may occur during the instructional day.)

This action is incremental to the administrative work-to-rule strike action that was begun last May that impacts school board and Ministry-related initiatives.

“For six months, the government has stood silently by and done nothing to stop the attempt by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) to control every classroom at the expense of every teacher. Its demands are not about improving education for our students. They are about increasing management rights and a desire for control,” added Hammond.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents 76,000 elementary public school teachers, occasional teachers and education professionals across the province.

ELEMENTARY TEACHERS’ FEDERATION OF ONTARIO STRIKE PROTOCOL:
WORK-TO-RULE – PHASE 2

Effective the first working day of the 2015-16 school year, Teacher and Occasional Teachers will:

NOT act as Teacher Designate or Teacher-in-Charge at any time;

NOT engage in any electronic communication with the principal or vice-principal outside of the instructional day except in situations that involve a safety concern. (NOTE: This does not include communicating with the principal or vice-principal regarding an absence, emailing of day plans, if required, or any communication to accept or decline occasional teaching assignments);

NOT collect or distribute to students any paperwork required by the school or board;

NOT collect monies;

NOT perform or participate in any activities/meetings/training related to Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (BIPSAs) and School Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (SIPSAs);

NOT participate in board professional development (other than mandatory first aid training, Sabrina’s Law and WHMIS);

NOT participate in board committees (other than Health and Safety, staffing committees, and School Council meetings), writing teams or curriculum resource development;

NOT complete the Teacher’s Annual Learning Plan (ALP) unless it is the teacher’s appraisal year;

NOT attend open houses or “Meet the Teacher” nights outside the instructional day (these may occur during the instructional day);

NOT plan, organize or participate in fundraising activities; and

NOT plan, organize or participate in any field trips. Members may continue to take part in life skills activities involving special needs students.

ETFO Phase 1 and ETFO Phase 1 Update work-to-rule strike action continues.

Executive Member

• Nathan Core – Waterloo Region Occasional Teacher Local – Media Release
• Kelly Holley – Algoma Teacher Local – Media Release
• David Mastin – Durham Teacher Local – Media Release
• Monica Rusnak  – Ontario North East Teacher Local – Media Release
• Greg Weiler – Waterloo Region Teacher Local – Media Release

Executive Member (Female)

• Gail Bannister-Clarke – Peel Teacher Local – Media Release
• Tracy Blodgett – Trillium Lakelands Occasional Teacher Local – Media Release
• Adelina Cecchin – Greater Essex County Teacher Local – Media Release
• Debi Wells – Limestone Teacher Local – Media Release

Media Release

The delegates to the ETFO Annual Meeting have elected the remaining released officers (President Sam Hammond, Hamilton-Wentworth Teacher Local and First-Vice President Susan Swackhammer, Grand Erie Teacher Local, were acclaimed on Monday.)

Elected to the position of Vice-President was Nancy Lawler – Media Release.

Karen Brown was elected to the position of Vice-President (Female) – Media Release.

Lawler and Brown will serve in their new roles from 2015 until 2017.

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.

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.