Colleagues, earlier today,
ETFO served notice to bargain
with school board bargaining
agencies and the government.
Serving notice begins the
collective bargaining process
for all ETFO
bargaining units
and makes it clear
that ETFO would like to meet
within the next 15 days
to discuss the list of items
that will be bargained at the
teacher/occasional teacher
and education worker
central tables.
For the past year,
ETFO has been preparing
for this round of bargaining.
We surveyed our members
in the fall
and based on those
survey results,
we developed
overall bargaining goals
that were approved in February
by Representative Council.
And in May,
local presidents approved
the list of items that ETFO
will propose at
our central tables.
ETFO is committed to negotiating
in good faith,
and we expect good faith
bargaining from those
who will be sitting across
from us
at central and local
bargaining tables.
Even so,
we know that negotiations
this year
are going to be
extremely challenging.
That’s why ETFO has
spent the past year
informing, engaging
and mobilizing
our members.
Our members have
responded very positively,
and once again,
have risen to the occasion.
By signing petitions,
attending rallies--
including the April 6th rally
at Queen's Park
attended by 30,000 people--
speaking to their MPPs
and engaging with parents
and members of the public,
ETFO members have been standing
up against the significant cuts
to public education that are
being unilaterally imposed
by the current government.
During the last few months,
many of you took part
in ETFO member
engagement meetings
held by school stewards
across the province.
At those meetings,
you signed cards
where you pledged to work
together to protect
the needs of Ontario’s students.
So far,
over 30,000 of your pledge cards
have been delivered to ETFO,
and we continue to receive
more signed cards
every single day.
It’s very powerful to know
that so many of you
have affirmed
your collective commitment
to take action
to defend Ontario’s
world-class publicly-funded
education system,
now and in the future.
I want to end by thanking you,
on behalf of ETFO’s
Provincial Executive,
for your support
as we enter the 2019
round of bargaining.
We are proud to serve
a membership that is so united,
so inclusive
and so strong.
Those are the qualities
that make our Union
a force to be reckoned with
in Ontario’s public
education system
and at the bargaining table.