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UPDATE: Elementary Teachers Planning to Strike In December

Posted By: Dave Bradley · 11/29/2012 5:40:00 AM

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is drawing a line in the sand.

They say they are planning full-fledged walkouts in December.

However, the EFTO members say they will give 72 hours notice when it comes to any strikes.

In a release, Sam Hammond, the Union President, called the situation
'unfortunate' but says 'we will provide parents with ample notice to ensure the safety of students.'

There are already four school boards where teachers and education professionals are in a legal strike position and have been proceeding with a work to rule campaign, come December, all boards in the province will be in legal strike positions.

Bill 115, or the 'Putting Students First Act', gives the education minister the right to impose an agreement if locals and their boards don't reach an a collective agreement by December 31st,

Hammond says they continue to negotiate with the boards, in hopes of reaching an agreement.

Education Minister Laurel Broten replied in a release: "I am disappointed to hear that ETFO will be moving ahead with strike actions. Disrupting learning time for students is not in the best interest of students.
 
As the Putting Students First Act allows for local bargaining until December 31, 2012, I encourage ETFO to negotiate instead of resorting to strike action
 
I will monitor strike actions very closely.  The government does have tools to address these actions and we will explore those options if required."

The Minister's office outlined their position:

“The Putting Students First Act does not remove the right of unions to strike. The legislation gives the government tools to prevent and to end a strike if it were to happen. Specifically, the legislation gives us the ability to impose agreements and where agreements are in place, strikes and lock-outs are prohibited. This is consistent with previous collective agreements.”



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  1. Anastasia beaverhusen posted on 11/28/2012 06:38 PM
    Unbelievable, Their sense of entitlement rivals AdamVaughan and the rest of his cronies? Teachers' status is 0 on the respect scale. Get back to work and stop being so greedy, or better yet if your work is such a hardship.......Quit! Nah.......That woul never happen, you'd have to work like the rest of us.
    1. Concerned Citizen posted on 11/28/2012 07:48 PM
      @Anastasia beaverhusen Work like the rest of us? Who is "us" and what do you mean by "work"? The tone of your voice is one of anger and resentment towards the teaching profession. Perhaps you are disappointed with your own educational experiences. Teaching is a career. Teachers have a Bachelor of Education degree from a university. Teachers have a responsibility to educate students who do not always want to learn. We are educated professionals who respond to violent and malevolent behaviour with respect and dignity. We are moving from the industrial age to the the digital age. As a society we need educated, dedicated professionals who can motivate and prepare our youth for this new and uncertain future. Broten has this dictatorship Bill that insults the teaching profession. We deserve to attract and keep smart professionals to this profession for the sake of our children. As a society, we get what we pay for.
  2. The Faculty posted on 11/28/2012 08:44 PM
    Good news for the teachers. They have been trying since the Fall to be rational with after school protests and campaigns. They have taken a "pause" on some of the extras they do not get paid for. They have been very respectful. The Liberals response? Run and hide. So yes, time to make life inconvenient for all of the helicopter parents like Anastasia who does not really "work" much at all.

    All of this could have been avoided if the Liberals wanted to look towards real savings in the education sector. There is a lot of fat yet they were not interested in looking at that. Instead, send 4 bankruptcy lawyers to a negotiation table and threaten contracts.

    Oh an by the way, Anasatasia, how many hours did you volunteer last week in your community? Yeah, that's what I thought.

    And to Dave Aguer, any time you want to swap seats for a day, give me a ring. Then perhaps your big uneducated mouth will be put to rest.
    1. anastasia beaverhausen posted on 11/29/2012 09:33 AM
      @The Faculty Actually, "The Faculty", I volunterr at least 6 hours a week to hospice care and I work for a non profit organization, in an educated position by the way. So please, I don't want to hear all the time how ownderful you think you are, how hard you work, and how many hours you volunteer. i do all of those things with pride and without complaining with a small percentage of your perks, vacation time and pay. You teachers have really been brainwashed by your unions, who are greedy, greedy, greedy and that is the perception the teaching possession is giving off to the rest of us who pay taxes, pay bills and work hard.
  3. elaine posted on 11/29/2012 08:32 AM
    Teaching is a profession like many others. All professions have there challenges and hardships. But very few jobs do you get every holiday off and all summer. I am in a profession in which I have just as much education as you and am lucky to get one week off every summer and my children have to have Christmas without me every other year. And yes I work full time and offer MY TIME to my local schools as a volunteer at least 10 hours a week. I don't see any teachers volunteering during the summer,,,,that's right they are too busy at there cottage. So, as you can tell I like many others have very little sympathy for teachers and there desire to strike.
    1. Concerned Citizen posted on 11/29/2012 08:00 PM
      @elaine Elaine, teachers do NOT desire to strike. Teaching is NOT like any other profession. Teachers do NOT want your sympathy. Many teachers, myself included, have about 8 years of job insecurity before getting tenure. I know of some teachers that never get tenure. By getting on the "I work hard too how dare teachers protest this Bill and hurt my kids" attitude.... think for a minute. Teachers have kids who go to school just like your kids. We are also parents. Our premier McGuinty chose to single out ONE profession and make them the scapegoat for all of his mistakes in government. Teachers have the right to protest against this unfair Bill. What choice do we have to protest this Bill? Write letters to our MPP.... did it. Go to protests outside Queen's Park...yep, did that too. Did they work? No. By using legal options under the labour law we are voicing our right to disagree with this anti-democratic Bill. The government can force this Bill on us, but we do not have to accept it with a smile. I hope your employer never imposes unreasonable conditions on your work and put you in an uncomfortable position where you have to make the tough decisions. Like you, we just wanted to go to work and be left alone.
  4. Earl posted on 11/29/2012 08:50 AM
    The Ontario government sent a clear message to the world it will not be good on it's word. Ontario is not trustworthy for business or labour. Thanks McGuilty you total loser dirt-bag.
  5. Adam posted on 11/29/2012 11:42 AM
    It frustrates me as a husband of a teacher that so many in the public can't stand teachers and think so poorly of them and think they just want more money all the time. I would encourage you to talk with teachers and find out what is really going on. And criticizing the ones who teach, train, babysit, provide guidance for, look after your kids while you are working or home watching tv - really? Try teaching a class of 30 kids with different personalities, abilities, disabilities, learning techniques, behaviors, attitudes, allergies, and the list goes on and on. It's not as easy as you think or say it is. And your response is "just quit!". Really? Then who would do all of this for your child? Are you going to quit your job to stay home and school your children? No. But there are caring people who do get paid very well to do this. They are with your kids more than parents are and especially in their formative years. They learn so much from the teachers and in many, many cases, have to help the children unlearn so many unhealthy lessons that they've learned from their parents. It's crazy. At school the teachers can ONLY show love, respect, patience, understanding and all the other positive attributes but at home you can yell and scream and punish and whatever else you do at home, privately, where no one else can see, and you think it's okay. This doesn't happen in schools. Yes, you'll cite cases where it's happened and you're right, it does, rarely. But how much goes on in the privacy of your home that the public isn't aware of. So think long and hard about how hard teaching is, like a lot of other jobs, but where you can only be positive, only love the kids through, adjust everything so that everyone is equal, spend more time with the kids than you do, only to have most of the general public and the media treat teachers so poorly. It's unreal. All of these so called media professionals who talk about their opinions instead of doing the research to get through to the truth. There is no truth anymore - we live in a world where everyone tweets, updates statuses, and makes comments and everyone, including the media, just retweets, likes, and shares that information without getting to the heart of the matter. It's sad, really. So many years of schooling and training to love on kids only to be ridiculed by people. Joy oh joy.
    1. anastasia beaverhausen posted on 11/29/2012 12:57 PM
      @Adam OMG! Teachers know what their jobs will be, what their perks will be, what their salaries will be! Sorry, you are not going to garner much sympathy by saying that teachers teach classes of 30 kids (teachers have always done that and at far less pay and perks)kids personalities, abilities, diasabilities, etc. They are not babysititing...they are doing their jobs and being compensated handsomely for it. The reason respect has gone down the tubes for the teaching profession is because they make it sound like they work in the saltmines for minimum wage and never get a break and then they want more, more, more.Hardworking taxpayers are sick of it. So if teachers want to restore the respect they once have, stop complaining, enjoy your many, many perks and your financial compensation. And yes, if it is so awful for them as they proclaim, then they should quit. They crow about their great educations, wouldn't be too difficult then to find something that they really like. You can roll out all the bull you like but the fact remains the are spoiled and petualnt and the bank is broke!
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  6. Jessy posted on 11/29/2012 09:58 PM
    I am ashamed to say that I have teacher friends and relatives who work in public schools but their kids are in private schools I wonder why hmmm
    what they say to each other .. 'How funny we will only work in public school and will send our kids to private school' when I ask them why they say we are paid a lot more than the private school teachers and we know how we teach in public school. I got very upset as my hard worked tax money is being spent on bunch of greedy teachers who we are trusting with building our Canadian future generation academically .
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