STATEMENT FROM ETFO PRESIDENT KAREN BROWN ON NEED FOR FREE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

OCTOBER 31, 2022

TORONTO, ON – The following is a statement from Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) President Karen Brown:

“On Sunday, it became known that the Ford government intended to table legislation that would impose a collective agreement on 55,000 Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) education workers in Ontario.

On behalf of ETFO’s 83,000 members, I want to say that we unequivocally condemn the Ford government’s imposition of a concessionary contract on some of the lowest-paid education professionals working in Ontario’s schools. ETFO stands with CUPE members and their right to strike for better pay and working conditions, and not with a regressive government that is cloaking anti-labour legislation as being pro-education.