Teachers often talk about coming to our profession as one comes to a calling.
As the vice presidents and I have travelled around the province over the last two months meeting with members to discuss the parameters tabled by the government at the Provincial Discussion Table, some questions have consistently been raised.
In the Winter 2011 edition of Voice, you were introduced to the approved bargaining goals that ETFO will pursue in the upcoming round of negotiations.
When Mary Bell became the president of the Wisconsin teachers’ union in 2007, she didn’t envisage she’d be leading a grassroots battle against a government assault on public sector unions. Wisconsin workers had some cause to be complacent about their bargaining rights.
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.
ETFO collective agreements expire next August. Preparations for the next round of bargaining are now underway. In 2004 and 2008 bargaining took place at both the provincial and local levels.
ETFO launches its bargaining campaign ETFO’s November 2011 collective bargaining conference brought together 300 local presidents, negotiators, and members of collective bargaining committees.
For ETFO the October provincial election was a success story: we worked hard to ensure the election of a majority of education-friendly candidates and that goal was accomplished with the election of 53 Liberals and 17 New Democrats.