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8 Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, September 10, 2015 | Nominations Close September 25th 2015 ­ Enter Yours TODAY! Nominees Wanted! e is ut m i T ng O ni n y! u a R d o Business Recognition Awards Education workers start job action in region today BY LISA QUEEN lqueen@yrmg.com T r e t En Nominate a successful local business with an inspiring growth story ­ perhaps even your own! Choose from five separate categories that showcase the diversity of the Stouffville business community ­ and you can submit multiple nominations! Award Categories: · Small Business Award · Large Business Award · Best New Business Award · Non-Profit Enterprise Award · Entrepreneur-of-the-Year Award Nomination forms available from the Chamber ­ NOMINATE TODAY! Email: carol@stouffvillechamber.ca, or call: 905-642-4227 Proudly sponsored by: "Total Retail 2015, Retailing in an age of Disruption" If your business is consumer-focussed, this is an event you won't want to miss! Report On More than 5,000 education workers in York Region will join a provincewide work-to-rule campaign beginning this morning. "It's going to be difficult. We don't want to go out on a full-blown strike. We always have the students' concerns (in mind)," Elena Di Nardo, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2331 in York Region, said. The union represents 55,000 educational assistants, custodians, secretaries, library technicians, early childhood educators, student support workers and others across the province. They are in a legal strike position today. Di Nardo is more optimistic than she was late last month that a settlement can be reached after the provincial government agreed to additional bargaining dates, including today and tomorrow (Sept. 10 and 11). But she isn't ruling out escalating job action. "We're hoping through these days of negotiations that we have centrally, we can come to an agreement without having to go, actually, on a full-blown strike," she said. "We could have escalating job action. We could step up work-to-rule. We could possibly go into a rotating strike or a full-blown strike. But we're giving the opportunity to the ministry to come to an agreement with what we have on the table." As the work-to-rule campaign kicks off, students and parents should not feel any impact, Di Nardo said. "We have to keep in mind students come first and the safety of students always comes first," she said. "It's really not going to affect the students as much or the parents when we're doing a workto-rule, but it could be a completely different scenario if we go on a rotating strike or a fullblown strike, which is not where we want to go. We want to be able to get an agreement... Our STOUFFVILLE NEWS ONLINE? With the emergence of new, innovative technologies, predicting consumer behaviour is more complex than ever. Today's consumer engages with retailers across multiple channels before making a purchase. Join us on Thursday, September 17th, from 5-7 p.m. at 19 on the Park, for an exclusive presentation on consumer behaviour from Elisa Swern, Retail Strategy Leader with PwC Canada. Everyone is welcome at this event. Registration is required. Space is limited! This Event Arranged By: Enter your hand-crafted items, art, favourite homemade jam or the best from your garden. Prize books and entry forms are available at the fair office. Classes and entry forms are also available online at www.markhamfair.ca Closing date for entry forms is September 17, 2015 by 8pm For more information call 905-642-3247. Markham Fairgrounds, 10801 McCowan Rd., Markham, Ontario L3P 3J3 Cost: $25 (plus HST) To register: email register@stouffvillechamber.ca or call 905-642-4227 For information on Advance Gate Admission, Ride All Day passes, event times and locations visit www.markamfair.ca yorkregion.com Consumer Behaviour HOMECRAFT CONTEST goal is not to go on a full-blown strike. Our goal is to be there for the students and to come up with a fair, tentative agreement that will work best for everyone overall." During the first phase of the work-to-rule, education workers will refuse to work overtime, not come to school early or work late, decline participation in any voluntary activities, not take calls or emails from supervisors if they are home sick, refuse to perform duties of fellow union colleagues and "work at a safe pace," Di Nardo said. Although she would not comment on the union's demands, she said education workers want to be treated as fairly as teachers are. "The school does not run alone by teachers. We all play a very important part and we always seem to be put on the back burner -- education support workers," she said. Public high school teachers and Catholic secondary and elementary teachers reached agreements with the province last month. However, the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario is still negotiating with the province, York Region union president David Clegg said. The union announced last month it was escalating its work-to-rule campaign. Elementary teachers will participate in extracurricular activities, but won't take part in field trips and "meet the teacher" nights, collect money for school-related activities, participate in fundraising activities, email principals and vice-principals outside work hours unless there is a safety concern, and collect or distribute school or board paperwork to students. Clegg isn't optimistic there will be a quick resolution. "While discussions at the provincial bargaining table have been ongoing since Sept. 1, the progress, if it follows the course of the concluded OSSTF (Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation) negotiations, may prove lengthy," he said.