The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) will hold a media conference on Monday March 9 at 2:30 p.m. to announce its next phase of strike action.
President Sam Hammond will discuss the fact that ETFO is still waiting for Ford’s Minister of Education Stephen Lecce to send his team back to the bargaining table. This is despite the Minister’s pronouncements that he wants to bargain fair deals with ETFO. Hammond will also address the misleading statements that Minister Lecce has made about his government’s commitment to improving public education and willingness to negotiate.
“Despite Minister Lecce’s pronouncements to the media this week, the government has not initiated any contract talks with ETFO. We will do what it takes to stop the Minister’s rhetoric and get his negotiating team to come to the table with proposals that will result in a fair deal for students, student learning and educators, ” said ETFO President Sam Hammond.
ETFO has advised its members to continue pickets outside of their schools and invite parents to join them, make personal phone calls to Conservative MPPs to discuss the impact of the Ford cuts and send letters to the Executive Council of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) to highlight key bargaining issues. They are also being asked to take to social media to correct some of the misinformation that Minister Lecce is communicating to the public.
“It’s key that the public understand what is really at stake for public education in these contract talks. We’re asking our members to arrange meetings with school trustees, address school councils and leaflet homes in their communities after hours to inform people of the issues,” added Hammond.
An additional component of ETFO’s Phase 7 strike action beginning March 23 will be announced this Monday.
ETFO represents 83.000 elementary public school teachers, occasional teachers and education professionals across the province. Its Building Better Schools education agenda can be viewed at BuildingBetterSchools.ca.
