President's Message November 2019

Dear ARMites of Chapter 22,

Into the 3^rd of the “brr” months now. Where do the years go? It is difficult to believe that I’ve been out of the classroom for fifteen years. I also can’t believe that it has been thirty years since the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, but I do believe that some of my brain cells are still functioning. When I’m at District Council meetings, the items discussed really seem to be very similar to when I was one of those active Members; now I’m just an active retired member. You probably have heard /read of the contract negotiations that are ongoing (or not) and the “strike” votes that are being taken. We really need to understand that what is being done is a confidence vote on the Federation’s position in negotiations. The word “strike” is imposed by legislation. OSSTF & OECTA are planning to announce their provincial counts on or about November 15. Personally, I would doubt that they will exceed ETFO’s number of 98%. All three have applied for or got “no Board” reports. Interesting times we live in. Watch your twitter feed, your facebook posts, or just listen to the radio, watch the news on television, or perhaps, read a newspaper. Whatever comes, please support our members in the classrooms as they do what we did each and every day – inculcate the next generation with high moral values.

Last week, the CCPA (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) released a study on how Ford's proposed cuts to education will impact teachers in every board across the Province. According to the study, OSSTF D22 will have 173 fewer teachers within the next 3 years if the cuts are to continue. That is approximately 20% of our membership. OSSTF/FEESO District 22 is hosting a rally to pressure the government to engage in bargaining on the substantive issues, and to prevent the cut of 1 in 5 high school teachers in the DSBN.

No Cuts to Education Rally

Thursday, November 14

3-5pm

Outside of MPP Sam Oosterhoff's Office

(4961 King St, Beamsville, ON L0R 1B0)

Please join members of District 22 OSSTF/FEESO and show your support in preventing these cuts and preserving public education in Ontario.

ARM Council is working on the program for our Biennial next May. The new CEO of OTPP has been invited as have OTIP and the OSSTF President. We next meet at the end of November and then in January & April to finalize the speaker list. Stay tuned.

The District is hosting their 16^th Annual Children’s Christmas Party on Sunday December 1 at the DSBN Academy. You are invited to register your (grand)children (12 and under), email Bonnie (officemgr@d22.osstf.ca) with the child’s/children’s age, name, gender and the total number attending. For more details, see the District website at http://www.d22osstf.ca .

Some sad news to report. As I reviewed the list of our members for mailing, I noticed the passing of Ian Donaldson. Ian retired in June of 1997, joining ARM later that year. I’m sure we all want to express our sympathies to his family. His obituary can be viewed at https://www.morseandson.com/memorials/ian-donaldson/3923744/obituary.php

OSSTF continues moving toward a paperless society. Both Forum (http://education-forum.ca/) and Update (http://osstfupdate.ca/) are principally available electronically. Print editions are just too costly and slow in the world of today. Plan to visit each of these sites. I believe you can sign up for email reminders of new publications. Chapter 22 continues to mail our newsletters to those of you who want printed copies, but some of our Active Chapters (and all of the newest chapters) are only emailing copies. At this point, we have every intention of continuing to snail mail our copies. If you would like to receive your newsletter via email (as well or only), please email me and I’ll add you to my growing list. (rmarshall23@gmail.com) I always give Bonnie a copy and she posts it on the ARM section of D22’s website (http://www.d22osstf.ca/active-retired-members-arm). You do have to scroll to the bottom of the page to find it. Sorry about all that extra work.

In my seemingly never-ending quest to provide you with trivia, did you know that November 5 is the anniversary of the National Research Council’s official time signal broadcast on CBC radio? It was on that date in 1939 that we first heard “the beginning of the long dash”. I do hope to see you at one of our events soon,

wARMly,

Ray