ETFO at 10: Celebrating Achievements (From the President)

This year ETFO celebrates its 10th anniversary. an opportunity for all of us to reflect on how far we have come since this federation was founded.

The success we have enjoyed is the result of the collective efforts of hundreds of individuals who have served as local leaders – from stewards in schools to local presidents. It has occurred because hundreds of members helped  deliver professional training to their colleagues, while still others made valuable contributions as provincial  committee members. It is the involvement and support of ETFO members like you that has moved this federation forward.

ETFO was  founded  in  an  era  when  public  education,  teachers,  and  teacher  federations were under attack. The Conservative government  denigrated our  professionalism and undervalued our work. Cuts to funding undermined education throughout the province. Not surprisingly there was considerable strife in the education sector in those years. In the fall of 1997, months before ETFO held its first annual meeting, teachers across the province staged a two-week protest at Queen’s Park.

In 1998, the year ETFO was founded, I was the chief negotiator for the York Region Teacher Local  when  we  were  locked  out,  and  subsequently went on strike in order to reach a fair collective agreement. That year there were also strikes in Simcoe County and Waterloo Region, and there were numerous locals where work-to- rule was the order of the day.

At the same time Phyllis Benedict, our first president,  was  taking  on  the  challenges  of bringing together  members of the Federation of  Women  Teachers’  Associations  of  Ontario  (FWTAO) and  the  Ontario Public  School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF). These two organizations  had  a  long  history  of  working  to improve the lot of public elementary teachers in this province, a legacy that ETFO has proudly continued.

Under the leadership of  our second president, Emily Noble, ETFO became active in the broader labour  movement, affiliating with the Ontario Federation of  Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress. It was also  under her leadership that we negotiated the historic 2004-2008 provincial framework agreement, which provided significant improvements in members’ working conditions. This included 200 minutes of preparation time and limits on supervision duties for teachers, as well as timetabling provisions for occasional teachers.

Today we are once again immersed in contract  negotiations. We  have  again  set  a  goal that challenges us all to extend our reach: our campaign to Close the Gap is about nothing less than achieving equal  funding for  elementary education. When we achieve that goal we will have obtained, once and for all, recognition of our  important role in shaping the citizens of tomorrow.

We have achieved much in the past 10 years. We are now the largest teacher federation in Canada. Together, we can improve the learning conditions for students and working conditions for elementary teachers in Ontario. It  will be our legacy to those who follow.