Bargaining for a Bright Future (From the General Secretary)

ETFO collective agreements expire at the end of August 2012 and bargaining for new agreements is about to begin. As we move into active  bargaining, members can expect to be challenged about what we are asking for in our next contract.

In  this  climate  of  economic  uncertainty, there  is  a  great  deal  of  fear  and  confusion about   what  is  needed  for  the  economy  to recover. Most  often  what  we  hear  is  austerity, cuts to  government spending, cutbacks in public services, lower wages and benefits for public  sector  workers. However, both  in the long and the short term, investing in vital areas of the public sector  makes financial sense. As Douglas Porter Chief Economist BMO/Nesbitt Burns said, “Governments shouldn’t be aggressively cutting spending when the economy is gasping for air … That’s  certainly  the wrong prescription.”

Unfortunately with the attack on the public sector has come an attack on unions. I don`t need to tell you why unions matter, and not only to their members. Unions contribute to the wealth and  prosperity of  society overall and are the reason most of us have workplace rights today. No country, as noted in a recent Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives article, has ever achieved widespread  prosperity and created a large middle class without unions.

People fare better when they join together in a common interest. ETFO members should never  apologize for  having  good  working conditions. What we need is to  raise others up so that they have good working conditions as well. In a climate where corporations have made  tremendous profits while people have lost their jobs and homes, it is important not to internalize the rhetoric  that  there  is  not enough.  There is enough.  The real issue is who gets what there is, a revenue not a spend- ing question that raises the issue of corporate tax cuts.

As educators we face  an  important question. How do we want our kids to grow up? What  is  the greatest impact we can have on ensuring  they  have  a  bright  future,  one  in which all have  good working conditions and democratic  and  social  rights  and  freedoms are valued. It is essential that we focus on our desire to raise each other up, instead of pulling each other down.

Our goal, as we go into this round of bargaining  is  to maintain  good  jobs  and  good learning conditions today and into the future. Let’s  create  healthy,  constructive  learning environments for our students. Let’s use our collective strength for our members, our students, and the future. Our solidarity makes it possible.