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Richmond Hill teacher says union won't control her choices

Posted By: Newstalk 1010 · 3/12/2013 6:13:00 AM

A public school elementary teacher in York Region has let it be known that her union will no longer control her choices. She has taught for 20 years in addition to supervising extra-curriculars and planning field trips and she will keep doing all of those things.  

Susan Beattie was a union steward for 4.5 years but resigned that post earlier this year. She wants all teachers to know that they do have a choice, unless they are in a legal strike position.

The Grade 1 teacher has written an open letter to the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario expressing her feelings. “You cannot compel me or any other member to withdraw from voluntary activities. I will attend monthly staff meetings. I will run my choir. I will plan field trips. I will attend meetings outside the instructional day, if I so choose. And I will not allow you or other executive officers to diminish or dismiss me.”

Beattie also writes, "Stewards who do not conform are asked to step down, as I did. I have learned from experience that raising concerns about the actions of our union executive is greeted with hostility and disrespect. You claim that teachers want their “voices heard”, but sadly, the only voices that are welcomed in our organization are the ones that concur with the leadership."

Elementary school teachers have not resumed their volunteer activities, even though their high school counterparts ended their boycott as a gesture of goodwill.

Beattie ended her open letter with this, "You have spent most of your career in the union. I am deeply concerned that, along the way, you have forgotten that teachers do not work for you — you work for us!"

(with files from the Richmond Hill Liberal)

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  1. Seymour Butz posted on 03/12/2013 07:14 AM
    Good for her! I suspect an increasing number of teachers feel the same way and will rally behind her in the coming days. The ETFO has overplayed its hand.
    1. tertle posted on 03/12/2013 08:57 AM
      @Seymour Butz One can hope but I doubt many will have her courage.
  2. Karin posted on 03/12/2013 08:15 AM
    I, too, am a grade one teacher with over 20 years of experience and I, too, am eager to resume extracurricular activities. I have, however, been told by my principal that I cannot, due to the negative impact on staff morale this would cause. So in other words, my doing extra-curricular activities would make the teachers who choose not to, look bad.

    Karin
    1. Mark posted on 03/12/2013 08:44 AM
      @Karin Like usual, a teacher choosing to pander to satisfy sulking socialist comrades at the expense of the children.

      Way to go. You got your priorities straight. YOU are FIRED.
    2. Angry Bill posted on 03/12/2013 10:37 AM
      @Karin I see what you're saying, Karin. However, I submit to you that Beattie was probably under very similar pressures, and she chose the other route. She was a union steward, and resigned that position in order to go back to doing the right thing.

      I also submit to you, that if you go back to doing extra-curricular activities and the result is making other teachers look bad who choose not to, then those teachers are making THEMSELVES look bad. They, like you, have a choice. Doing the right thing is sometimes not popular with some people. But, you know what? Are you there for the kids, or for the other teachers when it comes right down to it?

      That's the real choice you're making.

      Your principal has no authority to tell you what you can or cannot do in this situation. He's the principal, it's his job to consider teacher morale. But it isn't yours. Your job is to consider the kids.

      I hope you make the right decision in the end. Don't let Beattie stand alone.
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  3. Mark posted on 03/12/2013 08:38 AM
    Imagine,,, now we have to wonder if this teacher will be bullied, yes bullied, by her fellow comrades. In an age where children are being taught that "bullying" is totally unacceptable, we have to wonder if the idiots who teach our children are bullies themselves. This is the uber contradiction of leftist idiots as they wallow in their own greedy hypocrisy.

    Teaching used to be "a calling". Now it's just a profession full of childish greedy self serving and condescending hogs who knowingly bully, blackmail governments, and throw children under the bus when everything does not go their way.
    1. Steven posted on 03/12/2013 09:35 AM
      @Mark Wow!!! You seem to be the epitome of insight and wisdom yourself, Mark. In two short paragraphs you have labelled all teachers "idiots, childish, greedy, self serving, condescending hogs and bullies". Seems to me that the profession needs more people just like you to be a great role model to our children. Your comment suggests ramblings of an individual who hates his job, and the attitude, "If I can't have any sick days, benefits, time off, etc. then no one else should". Feel free to apply at your local school board for a job, if you think teachers have it so good.
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  4. tertle posted on 03/12/2013 08:44 AM
    It will be hard for the president of EFTO to now say he has not heard from a single teacher wanting to resume extra curriculars. I hope more teachers will have the courage of this Richmond Hill teacher, if that is what they choose to do. Time to do what is right for both teachers and students. Continue your fight with the government in the courts.
  5. MichaelB_2952 posted on 03/12/2013 09:32 AM
    Teachers who volunteer now may be helping students who participate in extra-curricular activities. However, the government will take volunteering teachers for granted. The remuneration for teachers could decline in the long run. The best people will not enter the teaching profession in the long run. How does that benefit the children?
    1. tertle posted on 03/12/2013 10:07 AM
      @MichaelB_2952 Why, because the renumeration could decline in the long run? Point made......It is about renumeration isn't it.
    2. proton posted on 03/12/2013 12:06 PM
      @MichaelB_2952 the monetized salaries of teachers is over $ 100,000 so don't worry, you're still WAY better off than most.
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  6. Jack posted on 03/12/2013 10:05 AM
    YEAH! Rock on, Beattie. We need more teachers to stand up to the pigs running the union, that's for sure. Maybe this'll even lead to mini-mafias like ETFO getting decertified from the inside, if we're all really lucky.

    I tell ya, this got my day started with a smile.
  7. Angry Bill posted on 03/12/2013 11:13 AM
    Beattie is a shining light in the midst of a union-controlled environment. The only thing that keeps me from being happy about Beattie standing up for what's right is because she's the exception and not the rule. Most teachers should be doing what she's doing, and they are not.

    The one good thing about Beattie receiving all this media attention for standing up for what's right, is she cannot be punished by the union or her principal. She is protected by the media scrutiny. This is why she will succeed, and maybe lead some other teachers away from the dark side.
    1. Richard Collins posted on 03/12/2013 11:15 AM
      @Angry Bill Exactly! Hopefully, now that Beattie has broken the USSR-like illusion of 100% compliance with the union's whims, other teachers will stand up with her. We could finally see some honesty in our education system because of this.
  8. Cathy posted on 03/12/2013 11:20 AM
    Good for you...We need more people like you to teach our children that they should not be sheep following the herd, but to use their heads and hearts.
  9. Ted posted on 03/12/2013 12:16 PM
    I have learned from experience that raising concerns about the actions of our union executive is greeted with hostility and disrespect. You claim that teachers want their “voices heard”, but sadly, the only voices that are welcomed in our organization are the ones that concur with the leadership."


    So she thinks SHE has been hard done by by her union. Does not even begin to describe how tired the public is with being screwed by the teacher's unions.

    Instead of writing well meaning letters to her deaf union leaders, maybe she should start a campaign to de-certify her union.
  10. john posted on 03/13/2013 01:35 PM
    i good to hear form teachers on this but the problum has nothing to do with some teachers it is evey teacher that has a back bone . ones that stand up to uion and and tellem were to stick it .
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