Thanks so much.
Wow, I hadn't planned on this but listen.
I'll say it right from the start.
Those people who said that there's a lot of rhetoric in this round of bargain, that Sam
Hammond's spreading rhetoric all over the place, tat Sam Hammond is directing the course
of this round of bargaining.
My friends, you've just showed everyone that you and you always have, directed me, and
this union on your behalf and thank you for that.
Listen I want you to know something, our brother Jim Iker was here, the president of the British
Columbia Teachers' Federation, you gave him a standing ovation for the stand that they
took in British Columbia, had to leave this morning.
I want you to know that he sent me a text he wanted me to share with you, he has on,
as he's traveling back to BC he has on our BARGAINING FOR THE FUTURE, RESPECTING OUR
PAST t-shirt.
Delegates, friends, sisters and brothers, I am so very honoured to once again serve
this Federation as your President.
Your confidence in me and the members of our provincial Executive that you have elected
has sent a very important message.
That is, that the 78,000 members of ETFO have always, and will continue to stand up for
our past and our future, our members of the past, the teaching profession, and the future
of student learning conditions in Ontario.
Your show of support with your sea of red T-shirts
with our bargaining theme on them "Bargaining for The Future, Respecting Our Past" makes
that very loud and very clear.
Our bargaining colour red going into the future once again.
Listen, parents and the government know that our highly qualified members are what make
our public education system one of the strongest in the world.
And that these members understand what is needed to give their students the best education
- every day, in every class, and for every student.
That's why the Liberal government's education policy is based on the promise that outstanding
education systems support teacher professional judgment and our members.
You know that.
Parents know that.
And yet for six months we have been faced with a list of contract strips from the Ontario
Public School Boards' Association and that has not changed.
These strips would erode teacher professionalism and the ability for them to use professional
judgment when providing instruction to our students.
I'm going to tell you right now, that will never happen and we will never agree to that.
As I said on Monday, for six months, the government has stood silently by and done nothing, nothing
to stop this brash attempt to control every classroom at the expense of every teacher.
These demands are not about, not at all about improving education for our students.
They are about increasing management rights and a desire for control.
Period.
End of the conversation.
Our student learning conditions should not be and will not be impacted in this way.
Nor should our education system be weakened by the disrespect that OPSBA has shown for
the working conditions of our members that we bargained over several decades.
Should we allow our education system to be weakened by:
Interference with the preparation time teachers need to plan lessons and prepare specialized
plans for students?
Have teachers to do more testing and less teaching?
Allow them to take DECES, ESPs and PSPs away from their classroom responsibilities with
students to do non-classroom tasks?
That's it.
And allowing principals the 'flexibility' to pass over qualified, experienced educators
for classroom positions?
Not going to happen.
It's not going to happen on my watch.
Many of these demands undermine education policies, regulations and programs developed
by the Liberal government, the very government that has stood by silently at the bargaining
table for the last six months.
That just doesn't make sense and it will never make sense.
I say shame on them both for their continued attacks on the profession, the professionalism
of our members, and our outstanding publicly funded, public education system.
That is why at the end of the day, ETFO's 76,000 members began an administrative work-to-rule
strike action in May of this year.
Our members will have been without a contract for one year on August 31st.
As you know, we have agreed to return to the bargaining table on September the first.
That is all the more reason for ETFO to keep up the pressure, as you have done this annual
meeting, to ensure that there is movement at that central table.
Movement towards a fair collective agreement that respects our members' working conditions
and students' learning conditions.
We know today that our colleagues in OSSTF have reached a tentative deal.
That's great.
Congratulations to our colleagues at OSSTF.
This may be a small sign that the government and OPSBA are finally beginning to recognize
the importance of resolving issues prior to the start of the school year.
Given our past experience, we WILL be prepared for anything and everything on September the
first.
Sisters and brothers, I want to say at this point on this item, that we have worked in
solidarity with everyone.
We will always work in solidarity with whoever we need to.
We will continue to move forward in that direction.
But I want you to know that as we go through this, that the people that I , the executive
and your provincial bargaining team, rely on, the people that we turn to, the people
that we trust are our family- You, and our 78,000 members across this province.
Straight up: Things must change at our central bargaining table in order for ETFO to reach
a deal.
Our provincial Executive and you have determined that we will stay on course and we will begin
a Phase 2 work-to-rule in addition to the current administrative strike action that
we implemented in May.
I want to highlight just a few of those components.
Effective the first working day of the 2015-16 school year,
ETFO members will:
will NOT participate in any field trips
will NOT participate in fundraising activities
will NOT perform or participate in any activities, meetings or training related to School or
Board Improvement Plans
they will NOT participate in board professional development
NOT respond to any electronic communication from the principal or vice principal outside
of the instructional day except where the safety of students is involved
and our members will NOT take on principals' duties by acting as Teacher Designate or Teacher-in-Charge
at any time
You know, while there will be no field trips until our issues are addressed in bargaining,
we will not at this time ask our members to stop their voluntary extra-curricular activities.
But I want to be very clear.
This is Phase 2, and if we cannot get a deal at that table and get it sooner rather than
later, as I said on Monday, OPBSBA, Liberal government: You are in for the fight of your
lives.
Thanks so much.
Anyone who says I control you needs to be here.
Listen, all of the information around Phase 2 will be coming out later this afternoon.
It will also be posted on our Union Collective Bargaining website at www.etfocb.ca this afternoon.
As I told you on Monday I've invited all of our local presidents and chief negotiators
to discuss our plans for collective action in much more detail on September 14th and
I look forward to that.
Along with our Phase 2 work-to-rule, our focus will be activism outside of our schools and
classrooms.
Thousands of you, as I said on Monday, traveled to Collingwood for the Liberal and the OPSBA
annual meeting.
Our members have been without a collective agreement for an entire year.
You have been without an agreement for an entire year.
There are many ways that we can speak with one voice about this unacceptable situation.
You have been, and you will, and I know that you will continue to do just that.
One way is through social media.
I'm asking all ETFO members to join me on Twitter to send a Thunderclap message to this
Liberal Government and to OPSBA on August 31st.
You'll be sent information next week by CB eNewsletter about how you can be part of our
Thunderclap message.
In September, we will be rallying and picketing outside Liberal MPP offices and school boards
in every corner of the province.
And if we still can't arrive at a fair, negotiated settlement, we are going to descend, all 78,000
of us, on Queen's Park during that same month.
In short, together, we are sending the message to the government and OPSBA, and education
stakeholders that ETFO members will never allow the erosion of our members' working
conditions.
Because as you all know in this room, teacher working conditions are student learning conditions.
And if you erode working conditions, it immediately and directly
impacts learning conditions.
Let me be clear, my friends.
ETFO has remained ready and willing to negotiate fair collective agreements for our members.
But I say to the Liberal government and OPBSA.
You must come to your senses and get serious about bargaining a fair collective agreement
- for the future of our members and the future of our students in this province.
Everyone in this room, and our 78,000 members understand this necessity.
And we are prepared to stand firm and stand united in this goal, today in this room, over
the past three days, and in September and every month coming after, in every public
elementary school across the province.
I know that you are prepared to stand up for what is right.
You do it every single time that you are called upon.
You have my heartfelt thanks for that.
And my friends, to close, we will do this together.
Our members, every one of our 78,000 members, need to hold their heads high.
They are the heart and soul of one of the best public education systems in the world,
and we will do what we need to do to protect them, our students' learning conditions, and
our collective agreement.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Wow, I have the best family in the world.
Listen, I want to turn now to what we would normally do at this time- Wow, from the bottom
of my heart- I can't thank you enough.
You're amazing.
Listen, so I want to turn now to the tremendous exercise of democracy that we have been engaged
in over the last three days at this Annual Meeting.
I want to thank you, all of you, for your attendance and your participation in the debate,
the very respectful, and thoughtful, and great debate that we have had on this floor, and
in the process determining the direction of our Federation for the next short while.
This democracy, that very transparent and accountable democracy is what makes our Federation
so strong.
You know, the tone of the debates this year was extremely respectful.
This is thanks to you, and thanks to the skills of our amazing parliamentarians.
You know there's only one person that scares me at a microphone, and that's Ruth Ann Morley.
Listen, you just did, Ruth, Wulf, Doris, Yolanda, thank you so very much.
You just did- you are doing, an amazing job on our behalf.
I'm going to tell you, it says in my speech here that this morning we passed our budget,
enabling - well we haven't done that yet, we will get to that.
You know, bargaining was at the top of everyone's mind this week, we debated some important
aspects about the ongoing work of our Federation and our long term future.
One of which was our commitment, our solid and unwavering committment to equity.
Equity work requires planning, commitment and continual reflection.
It involves taking concrete steps to remove barriers and create inclusion.
We have always been leaders in fighting these battles, and we've always walked the talk.
With our Transgender Policy, we have also taken a historic step to align our Federation
with the Ontario Human Rights Policy on gender identity and gender expression.
More importantly, this policy will help ensure that transgender members are welcomed, respected
and provided full rights and protections within our union and our workplaces because it's
the right thing to do.
Delegates, you also voted to endorse the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report
and its 94 recommendations and thanks so much for that.
Moving forward, we will provide a forum for members to learn more about how the recommendations
impact educators in the public education system.
And we will not, not for one minute, ever forget about our First Nations, Metis and
Inuit brothers and sisters in this country and we will do everything, everything to support
them into the future.
So, if this is your last annual meeting and you will admit it, I'd ask you to please stand
and be recognized by the delegates of this Annual Meeting.
We all respect and appreciate everything that you have done for us, and it's an honour for
us to continue on in your footsteps and good luck to each of you.
So, long with our committed local leaders, dedicated committed local leaders, our Federation
is lucky to have, and has always been fortunate to work with, a strong provincial leadership
team as we enter into the next phase of bargaining.
I'm going to ask- we went through an amazing process, an election process, and I'm going
to ask now, that the new Executive to join me here on stage.
First Vice-president : Susan Swackhammer Vice-presidents : Nancy Lawler and Karen Brown
OTF Table Officer: Diane Dewing Executive Members:
Tracy Blodgett Gail Bannister-Clarke
Kelly Holley Monica Rusnak
Debi Wells Adelina Cecchin ?
Nathan Core David Mastin
Greg Weiler I'm excited, I'm so excited to work with this
new provincial leadership team on your behalf.
I'm going to ask them to stay up with me because we're going to be doing everything together
for the next two years.
Those who are newly elected, I said I hope that you told your spouse, your partner, that
I have you for two years and they're never going to see you.
Listen, our theme for this year's annual meeting was Bargaining for the Future, Respecting
Our Past We owe it to all of those who came before
us to continue this fight for our members, our profession and for the future of public
education in this province.
Our members have been central every step of the way and we will continue to rely on your
passion and commitment to our profession.
You have made our public education system one of the strongest in the world, and it
will be you - through our unified collective action - that will defend public education.
I'm honoured and proud to be your president, and I'm honoured and proud to work in the
future over the next few years with the team at the front.
Thank you so much.