L to R: Susan Swackhammer, President’s Award winner Maureen Weinberger, Sam Hammond, President’s Award winner James McCormack

MEDIA RELEASE:

Halton’s Maureen Weinberger, Waterloo Region’s James McCormack receive prestigious ETFO President’s Award

 For Immediate Release – August 20, 2015

(TORONTO)  Maureen Weinberger and James McCormack, retiring vice-presidents of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), received the prestigious annual President’s Award at the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario’s (ETFO) Annual Meeting dinner last night.

In announcing the award, ETFO President Sam Hammond paid tribute to the role that both Maureen and James have played as elected officers of the Federation.

“I would not be here as president if it were not for the support of Maureen and James as elected vice-presidents on ETFO’s provincial Executive,” said Hammond. “It has been an amazing journey that we have taken together to represent ETFO’s 78,000 members.”

A teacher from Halton, Maureen served as the Federation’s vice-president from 2009-2015. She participated and chaired a number of ETFO’s task forces and has also served as vice-president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation from 2013-2015.

James was elected vice-president of ETFO in 2011. A former president of the Waterloo Region Teacher local, he also sat on the Executive Board of the Ontario Federation of Labour as vice-president.

“Maureen and James have dedicated their lives to the teaching profession, the union movement and ETFO. Their leadership has been instrumental in helping advance and defend the rights of ETFO members and the teaching profession at home and abroad,” added Hammond.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario represents 78,000 elementary public school teachers and education professionals across the province and is the largest teacher federation in Canada.