Opening Statement



Saturday 1 December 2012

ETFO Strike Action Begins!

Ho ho ho! It looks like ETFO has an early Christmas present wrapped up and ready to be delivered to the MOE anytime now! We can expect a very exciting month ahead. Here are the details being made public from the various media sources so far this weekend. The possible starting dates and other info is provided below. I will update this blog  later.



December 3 2012

The Doug Little report claim teachers have all the cards in  hand with strike actions during the OLP race. Claims Broten is just making it difficult for the candidates. Rather inspirational, worth repeating as votes are held, job actions increase: Doug Little Report

In the OLP leaders debate, Sandra "Pooper" Pupatello promises to scrap parts of Bill 115 but doesn't say which. Let's see how Kennedy and Wynne respond: Pupatello Kennedy Wynne

CUPE critiques the debate. Kennedy says he wouldn't impose the strict rules of Bil 115. Hahn says that's skirting the issue and is not good enough. Quite true. Everybody else just sucking up to the premier. If Kennedy wants inside party support to win I'd figure he's beat if he takes on Blll 115 further and nobody else picks it up. However let's see if they start changing their tunes as the strikes and job actions kick in. Read:  CUPE Kennedy Hahn  


Toronto Star editorial urges teachers to fight the government in court room not class. Listen, the court challenge won't be settled for a long, long time. Plus it won't work retroactively. The damage will be done. IMHO the part about teachers playing off the Liberals leadership race and a spring election fears are probably closer to the mark. In short? Sort of a wishy washy "Why can't we all be just be nice?" argument. Too late for that. See: Star strike editorial court not class

OECTA NEWS: See my December 3 blog.

In other news!

You think you have off days at school? Son of Wyoming teacher stabs fathers live in girlfriend to death. Comes to school and shoots father with arrow to the head in his computer class. Father struggles with him so class can flee. Son stabs himself with large knife then finishes off his father with a stab to the chest. Authorities say father and son weren't exactly close. Police stumped. Whoa! See: Wyoming School Arrow + Knife Attack 

December 2 2012

With the ETFO administrative strike set to start Monday, the teachers will be voting on a one day province wide strike should the MOE use Bill 115 to stop their rotating strikes. My understanding is the voting will continue until midnight Monday. The members are voting online. Bravo. Shows what can be done. I hope OECTA Provincial is watching careful. Here is the ETFO voting page if you want to take a gander. Not much to see unless you are a member, but still it shows what can be done to make the decision making inclusive and democratic: ETFO Online Voting


Minister of Education Laurel Broten. Somehow I don't think she is too pleased. Nope. I don't think so.

ETFO Guelph and Hamilton begin actions tomorrow. No Christmas plays or field trips. These are of course voluntary duties teacher take on. See: ETFO Niagara + Guelph

You can hear ETFO's new Stop Bill 115 radio ad here: ETFO Radio Ad

You can sign ETFO's "Stop Bill 115" petition here: Etfo Stop Bill 115 Petition

ETFO ETT Toronto will be protesting outside the TDSB offices on Yonge Street Monday after school. They are angry with the board handling of Bill 115 and the progress reports. For details and a flyer see:  ETFO ETT TDSB Protest

The situation is really heating up in Ottawa. Both ETFO and OSSTF job actions commence tomorrow. OSSTF Ottawa rejected holding a ratification vote  for their MOE approved agreement  because the language on it had been changed! Here is the articleETFO + OSSTF Ottawa

OSSTF Ottawa job actions will now resume. Among the 29 mandatory job actions, members will not:


  • Attend staff meetings.
  • Complete annual learning plans.
  • Participate in field trips.
  • Participate in any aspect of school improvement plans.
  • Complete ministry reports.
  • Distribute OCDSB materials/communications to students.
  • Distribute course selection materials/option sheets.
  • Participate in curriculum/course writing, unless it is a part of the teachers’ duties in their role as an instructional coach.
  • Attend open house/information sessions outside of the regular school day.
  • Answer parental emails outside of the regular school day.
  • Participate in parent interviews outside of the regular school day.
  • Provide progress reports (written reports beyond those provided at mid-term and end of term).
  • Upload marks or comments to Trillium. Report card marks are to be given to the administrator.
According to the list, unassigned supervision of student behaviour in hallways will continue.

Compare the above with the ETFO job sanctions below and it looks like December will be a very over the top protest month indeed. Anything could happen. Except with OECTA. Provincial wants us to stay in school and behave ourselves. How embarrassing! Some members are independently following the OSSTF and ETFO sanctions at OECTA TSU. I've heard at other dissenting units across the province too where the local presidents did not vote to support the MOU. If we can make some time to join our EFO and OSSTF colleagues at any of the protest events or pickets I'm sure it would still show some member integrity and solidarity on our behalf despite provincials official hands off position.


On a personal note we went Christmas shopping today. It was a fairly mild if not wet Sunday in Toronto. As usual I didn't find any gifts for anyone. Though did find a nice set of Sony headphones and a couple of CD's [Grand Funk, Radiohead etc] for myself. Alas, I'm just not too good at Christmas shopping I'm afraid. The carols being piped in everywhere irritate me too. Fa la la this and Jingle bells that. Same with driving around looking for a parking space. Long line ups to pay money to a cashier. Nothing new really, by now I realize that's just how I am. It happens every year. Bah. Humbug. Otherwise I guess it was fun  just going out and about in the car, and I actually didn't go online all day. Very rare.

Much more news to follow. More below..........



December 1 2012



The London Free Press claims "strike action" will begin this Monday. It says ETFO has told teachers on "work to rule" that " job actions" will include:


  • they must arrive at school no more than 30 minutes before classes start and leave no more than 30 minutes after classes end.
  • they can't go on field trips, play days or participate in any voluntary or extra-curricular activities
  • not to participate in any school-based or system-level meetings
  • not to attend any board- or ministry-sponsored professional development worskshops, activities or events
  • not to do any reading, writing or math assessments, other than those a teacher thinks are needed to report on student progress
  • not to complete forms or surveys from the Thames Valley District school board or the ministry of education
  • not do do any filing, sorting, data entry, collecting money or verifying attendence
  • not participate in standardized testing, do parent interviews outside of the school day
  • not distribute board or ministry memos about the union's work to rule campaign or negotiations to parents or students
As of Dec. 14, teachers will stop going on field trips.


Here's the link for the full story. Also note that the Thames Valley District board is telling parents to have day care arrangements ready asap in case the strike escalates. See: ETFO Job actions


Elves Local 1225 supports ETFO. Probably. I think so. Kind of hard to reach them. They are very busy this time of year you know.


The Toronto Star reports on the cancellation of school field trips but claims there is a December 10th deadline. See: School field trips cancelled

The Globe + Mail claims the strikes will start in the second week of December. ETFO ETT President Martin Long says the union plans rotating one day strikes. Also a one day province wide strike and march on Queens Park if Bill 115 is evoked. Members will vote Sunday on the fall back plan. Questions are arising if OSSTF can join in. Wither too OECTA? How catholic! We are just supposed to stay at school and do as we are told?!? Ummm. Can we vote on that?!? Sigh. Alas. Grrrrr. See: ETFO Strike Strategy

The Toronto Stars Thomas Walkom explains why the teacher strikes make good sense. See: Strikes make sense

More to come. More below...........................

Meanwhile in other teacher news:



Locals were protesting against wind farms outside the 1st OLP leaders debate.

Reviews of the 1st Liberal Leaders debate are coming in. No education talk to speak of. Kathleen Wynne says as Premier she also wants to be Minister of Agriculture. Kennedy very direct. Pupatello seemed like the angry lady,  Hoskins very green. Murray good talker. Takhar + Sousa talk business issues. OLP obviously trying to shore up support in rural areas. Lots of lame insider questions asked. Two reviews:

TVO's Steve Paikin reports: Paikin Reviews 1st OLP debate

The Huffington Post Canada reports: Huffing 1st OLP debate

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you hear that Ottawa OSSTF turned down the tentative deal after it had been signed because someone changed the wording in the agreement. Someone must be getting desperate. Now who would do such a nasty thing.

Anonymous said...

If I read the obits and it mentions my own funeral, I won't believe it until I read it in the Chiarelli Blog.

Kulture Kult Ink said...

Ha ha! ;-)

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that the MOE had employed Bev Oda to edit the contract for Ottawa OSSTF! Wow. So that is where she landed. Wonder how much a glass of O.J. runs yah in the capital these days Laurel? In all seriousness: How can OECTA sit inside their warm class rooms and play nicey nicey with the Liberal government. SHAME!

Anonymous said...

OECTA website says OECTA Ottawa and the Ottawa Catholic Board have a tentative deal. Didn't 700 teachers turn out in Ottawa to voice their displeasure to O'Dwyer? Let's hope the rank and file vote that contract down. The MoU is going to get imposed on us all Dec. 31 anyway. Send O'Dwyer a message, Ottawa Catholic teachers!

Anonymous said...

I have and I will. I will vote NO on principle. O'Dwyer and that boys club are living in a bubble. I attended the Ottawa outrage meeting He must have been wearing some extra duty teflon as it was deflection after deflection when valid points were raised. Our unit has filed a labour complaint, yet endorses a deal? Huh? I agree with the previous poster in having a one day walk out against this bill and in support of our union friends, but that is not going to happen. Speaking from both sides of their mouths.

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