Now that ETFO president David Clegg and some of his followers appear to be living in some kind of fantasy world and are setting deadlines and issuing warnings before they have even polled their members to see if they have the support they think they have, perhaps it is time to speculate as to where their intractable position may lead to in the long run.

I suspect very much like the lack of foresight demonstrated by some of the trustees of the Toronto Catholic District School Board the law of unintended consequences may take over.

Certainly, if I were the Premier and Minister of Education, I would be taking a long hard look at the need for full negotiations at the Provincial level. It is also well known that many among both the Public and Catholic School Boards’ Associations would be very supportive of the province taking over full control of collective bargaining.

I cannot help thinking but that David Clegg has hastened the day when that will inevitably occur.

I think too many members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario are looking at the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) with covetous eyes.  They are about to get 12% plus along with the Catholic and French teachers while ETFO members must wonder what amount and when will they get a raise, even with a strike.

I doubt few among the public realize or understand the degree of enmity that has traditionally existed between Public elementary and secondary school teachers of this province. Suffice it to say that the arrogance of the secondary school teachers towards their elementary counter parts simply because they had a university degree while most elementary teachers did not, during the first seventy years of the last Century, still lives on. But some simple mathematics quickly reveals that very few, if any teachers, of that era, remain in our classrooms. I would suggest, with a push from Clegg, especially if Elementary teachers are indeed left holding the short end of the compensation stick, there will be much talk among both  quarters of the two unions uniting like their Catholic and Francophone brothers and sisters into one Ontario English Public Teachers’ Association (OEPTA).

I suspect no matter how reluctant some will be to move in that direction, Clegg has set that ball rolling too.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites