In April, ETFO and other education unions won a major victory at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The court found that the Ontario government’s Bill 115, imposed in the fall of 2012, was a violation of the collective bargaining rights of education unions.
ETFO leaders met in October for the fall Representative Council meeting. At this, the first of three meetings held every year, the council elects members to sit on the Council Steering Committee, the Selection Committee for Standing Committees and the Budget Committee.
I’d like to start by thanking you. It’s been a long and stressful 14 months of central bargaining for members.
ETFO leaders and staff have worked hard to secure collective agreements for all 78,000 members. Through it all ETFO members have stood together. Thank you.
Participation in political rallies gives ETFO members an important opportunity to support their union’s bargaining position; it gives them a public voice on how contract provisions directly affect classroom working and learning conditions. ETFO members find themselves once again compelled to protest the government and employer stance at the bargaining table.
In September 2014, ETFO began central table discussions with the government and the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) to negotiate renewed collective agreements for our teacher and occasional teacher members.
A sense of purpose was in the air as over 800 public elementary school teachers and other education professionals gathered for the ETFO 2015 Annual Meeting at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto from August 17 to 20.
On Friday, September 11, after just seven days of bargaining, the Ontario Public School Boards Association and government negotiators told the mediator facilitating our discussions they “were done” and wouldn’t negotiate further with ETFO. In effect, they walked away from the table.
Ontario Regulation 274/12 (also called “Regulation 274”) was filed by the provincial government on September 11, 2012 under the Education Act. Regulation 274 establishes consistent and transparent steps all publicly funded school boards in Ontario are required to follow when hiring for long-term occasional (LTO) and new permanent teaching positions.