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4 - The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday January 10, 2009 www.oakvillebeaver.com Local elementary teachers union hopes to avoid strike By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Parents should not panic about the possibility of a public elementary teachers' strike, according to Maureen Weinberger, president of the Halton Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Local. David Clegg, ETFO provincial president, made an announcement Wednesday, warning that a strike vote will be called for if significant progress is not made on contract talks by Feb. 13. However, Weinberger said she is hopeful a strike vote will not be necessary. The Halton ETFO is meeting with the Halton District School Board on Jan. 27. "We're not talking about strike action right now at all," Weinberger said. "We still need to talk to the board and see what their proposal is going to be. Halton District School Board (HDSB) and Halton ETFO are going to the bargaining table in good faith to get a deal that will take us forward." Public school board officials declined to comment on the upcoming meeting at this time, but a release posted on the HDSB website states successful contract negotiations are a priority. The board will also be meeting with the ETFO union representatives for "We're not talking about strike action right now at all. We still need to talk to the board and see what their proposal is going to be." Maureen Weinberger, president of the Halton Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario elementary occasional teachers on Jan. 28. "The Halton District School Board values all its employees and is committed to negotiating fair contracts with all employee groups in order to deliver high quality education to all students," reads the release. "The Halton District School · CARPET · ORIENTAL RUGS · VINYL · HARDWOOD · CERAMICS · CARPET · · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · V I N Y L · H A R D W O O D · C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · AREAaRUG l e a r n ce D NTEE RA GUA Don't Pay until June 2009 Board will continue to negotiate locally with our elementary teachers as well as our elementary occasional teachers within the funding allocations provided by the province." Weinberger says if past bargaining is any indication, the Jan. 27 meeting should go smoothly. "We've always had a good relationships with the board," she said. "I've been on a collective bargaining team for probably 12 years and I've been in this office as the president for seven years. In the time I've been in here as the president bargaining, I do not recall the board tabling large strips to our collective agreement and I'm hopeful that is not going to be the direction they are going to take." If talks are not successful, Weinberger says there are many different types of strike action elementary teachers could take. "Strike action can be everything from we're not going to go to staff meetings up to and including a full withdrawal of services," Weinberger said. "We have not withdrawn our services in Halton in all of the years I have been here. We have had lots of strike votes, but we have never withdrawn our services. We have done work to rule and the continuum of work to rule has lots of steps. Way down at the end is a full withdrawal." There are about 2,000 members of Halton ETFO. They, along with 71,000 other public elementary teachers with the union across Ontario have been without a contract since Aug. 31. The ETFO and the school boards last met for contract talks in December. At that point, the teachers turned down a four-year deal that would have given them a 12 per cent pay raise over the term of the contract. This offer has since been reduced to four per cent over two years. The ETFO says salary isn't the issue, demanding the province increase classroom funding to close the gap on what is spent on high school students. Clegg said there is a $711-per-student difference. · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · V I N Y L · H A R D W O O D · C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · Sign up for Citizen Police Academy Are you interested in learning about the Forensic Identification Unit, Tactical and Rescue Unit, or Collision Reconstruction Unit? Are you curious to know what it's really like to be a police officer? Want to know about fraud and identity theft prevention? The Halton Regional Police Service still has spots available for the upcoming session of the Citizen Police Academy. The program runs from 7-10 p.m. on Tuesdays from Jan. 27 to April 14. Preference is given to persons who reside in, or own a business in, Halton Region. 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