During his speech, President Hammond referenced the demands that have been made by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA), which include:

• interfering with the self-directed preparation time teachers and occasional teachers need to plan their lessons and prepare specialized plans for students;
• having teachers do more testing and less teaching;
• taking education support staff away from their classroom responsibilities with students to do non-classroom tasks;
• allowing principals the ‘flexibility’ to pass over experienced, qualified educators for classroom positions.

President Hammond indicated that “things must change at the central bargaining table quickly. Our provincial Executive has determined that we will stay on course and begin a Phase 2 work-to-rule in addition to the current administrative strike action…effective the first working day of the 2015-2016 school year.”

For more information on ETFO’s Phase 2 work-to-rule, please go to the Our Union CB website.

On the agenda for Thursday:

• continued work on resolutions,
• final review and approval of the 2015-16 budget, and
• the President’s Closing Remarks

Our delegates are wearing red t-shirts emblazoned with the message ‘Bargaining for the Future . . . Respecting Our Past’.