Category: Class Action

Hastings-Prince Edward

Yesterday, I presented Class Action to the executive of my old local, the Hastings-Prince Edward ETFO local. It was like being with family. Finally, I was person-to-person with an audience. I gave a short presentation on the book, we talked, I signed books, they asked questions, we reminisced. I was given 15 minutes on the agenda, but we remained in discussion for 45 minutes. It was wonderful to be back home.

Federation House in Belleville, home to the two ETFO locals and OSSTF District 29

Last Tuesday, I had presented the book at the AGM of the Toronto Workers History Project via Zoom. It was like a book launch with soul mates. The panel consisted of Harry Smaller, professor emeritus at York U, and Vivian McCaffrey, former ETFO Coordinator of Communications and Political Action Services. Some of the questions Harry and Vivian put to me pushed me in directions that I had never considered. It was a learning experience, indeed.

The discussion that followed involved a (virtual) room full of labour activists asking some very insightful questions out of their experiences as activists, unionists, and students of labour history. The panel format that had been suggested by Craig Heron, TWHP President, allowed me to connect with the audience, even through Zoom, in a very personal way.

I am going to offer the same format for future presentations to any other organizations that ask, with the understanding that the panel members read the book in advance. Thank you Craig. Thank you TWHP. Thank you Harry and Vivian. I was honoured to be the AGM presenter for the evening.

Image Description: Judith Butterfield tutors a student in mathematics at the Black education project on College St., 1975. Toronto Star Archives, Toronto Public Library, 1975.
From Funké Aladejebi’s June 2021 presentation to the TWHP entitled “Ontario’s Black Teachers”

Released

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Class Action: How Ontario’s Elementary Teachers Became a Political Force is now available from your local bookstore or online from Between the Lines Publishing. The book was released on 15 September; the launch was delayed due to the federal election. Personally, I appreciated the opportunity given to people to read the book before the launch, which is now expected in the second week of October (TBA).

It has been an interesting few weeks emotionally for me, an identity shift.

Two seeks ago, I went into Another Story Bookshop to buy a graphic novel for my 7-year-old granddaughter. At the cash, I asked Anjula if they were carrying my book. They were. Anjula asked another clerk to take over while she talked to “an author.” I was taken by surprise. It was the first time anyone had called me that.

Walking home, I was feeling a lot of ambiguity. When I got to my house, I phoned Barb, a painter friend. I wanted to talk about the process of re-inventing myself.  Barb had undergone a similar experience. “We all go through that,” she said. “You have to put in the time at your craft. You have to make time for the work, for others, and for yourself.”

After retiring from teaching, I had moved to Toronto. I had become friends with a couple of fellow writers, a videographer, and a sculptor. Yet, I had always felt an outsider. Now, having put in the time to become a published author, I belonged. I had achieved a kind of credibility in myself. The effect was expansive, exhilarating, and a little terrifying. Who was this re-invented person in the mirror?

Class Action: How Ontario’s Elementary Teachers Became a Political Force is also available at Indigo Books.

Book Launch, 15 September 2021

Class Action: How Ontario’s Elementary Teachers Became a Political Force will be released and available for sale on 15 September 2021 at Between the Lines publishing.

https://btlbooks.com/book/class-action

Or at Indigo to pre-order: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/class-action-how-ontarios-elementary/9781771135689-item.html

“Late in the 2019-20 school year, the members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) joined the other teachers’ unions on work-to-rule restrictions and a series of rotating strikes. The teachers were opposed to the Doug ford Progressive Conservative government’s cuts to the education budget and a legislated 1 per cent on salary increases…

Interestingly, prior to 1998, elementary teachers had belonged to two unions that were constantly at odds with each other. Both had salary and working conditions well behind those of their secondary peers.

How did those people, whose job it is to educate children to become good citizens become the front line of union activism? What happened to turn elementary teachers into a political force in Ontario? How did elementary teachers come to join the vanguard of resistance to the neo-liberal turn in government policy?” (p. xi)

So begins the story of the elementary teachers of Ontario and the 80-year history of their two unions: the women’s union, the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) and the men’s union, the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF). This book examines why the women wanted to keep their own union and why the men were opposed to that idea. It looks how the two unions fought side by side in their labour battles and in their campaigns against the rise of neo-liberalism .

Then, in 1998, in the heat of the struggle against the Mike Harris Progressive Conservative government, the FWTAO and the OPSTF united to form the ETFO. The book explains how and why that amalgamation took place.

“Class Action is a deeply researched and historically contextualized account of the rise of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. A must-read for anyone interested in the education system, the labour and women’s movements, and contemporary politics.” (Bryan Palmer, co-author, Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History)

I can be reached at andyh1949@gmail.com to arrange presentations.