Changing Needs of Members Drive Federation Growth (From the General Secretary)

ETFO has been evolving since 1998, when its  two  predecessor  organizations joined to form one organization.

In the coming year the ETFO provincial office will undergo exciting changes designed to serve you better as we  add staff with expertise in a variety of areas.

We    are    adding    staff    to    expand    our communications services. The ETFO website will be more dynamic,  interactive and informative. We will begin an e-newsletter.

A staff officer who can focus on media relations will allow us to do more to inform the public about  the  needs  of  students and  teachers in our public education system. We will be able to respond more quickly to issues that  affect your working life and deal with the media contacts more fully.

Until now media relations have been part of the duties of our magazine editor. The editor will now be able to focus on the magazine: we will be providing you with five issues this year allowing us an additional opportunity to  highlight the work that you do in the classroom.

The revamped website, the e-newsletter, and the additional issue of the magazine will keep you  better   informed  about  issues  that  affect your  life  in  the  classroom  and  within  your community.

Our expanded communications capability will let us inform not only members, but also the public and  provincial policy makers about the issues that affect teachers and students. We will be able to spend more time and energy engaging provincial politicians in all parties so that we can help inform party platforms in the lead up  to the 2007 provincial election and communicate our priorities for the 2008 round of collective bargaining.

Thanks to the funding provided by the Ministry of  Education, we  are  providing  professional development opportunities on an unprecedented scale. Additional professional development staff with specific expertise will be seconded to carry out  this  work.  We  have  also  added  staff  to strengthen our focus on equity and social justice issues so that we can serve a new generation of teachers.

We are strengthening our staff and programming to meet the needs of new members and to sustain our leaders at the local and provincial levels over the next decade.

Like  your  schools and  communities, ETFO will experience major changes as current leaders and staff retire and new leaders come on board. We want to  ensure a  seamless transition that allows new leaders to feel ready and confident to step forward and work effectively for you.

We  are  building a  stronger union  to  serve you better. We hope that you will serve your Federation by  getting involved at the level that suits you best. Because after all is said and done, you are at the heart of everything we do.