After much deliberation, the ETEA Human Rights and International Solidarity Fund is proud to announce the winners of the inaugural (2017-2018) Charles Boylan Memorial Human Rights and International Solidarity Fund:

$1,000 to Feeding Nunavut, a non-profit organization providing food to impoverished, mainly indigenous communities in the Canadian north;

and

$1,500 to La Asociación Civil Maya Mam Ak’Aj Q’Ij, a Mayan school in the Western Highlands of Guatemala offering primary education in the local indigenous language on a very limited budget. Two ETEA members from Local 1 (ILSC) made applications to the fund on behalf of these projects.

Both organizations were deeply grateful to receive the funds, and the committee feels that each represents the legacy of Charles and are projects he himself would have enthusiastically supported.

The committee would like once again to thank FPSE for its generous contribution to help us honour Charles’ memory.

Moving forward, applications for the 2018-2019 fund ($500) are now open! The committee would like to receive all applications for consideration by March 1st, 2019. All current ETEA members are strongly encouraged to apply.

In solidarity,

ETEA Human Rights and International Solidarity Committee

Congratulations to the teachers at Global College Vancouver for officially joining the Education and Training Employees’ Association! 

A vote was held today in which Global College teachers overwhelmingly voted to join the union, becoming ETEA’s seventh active local.

You have taken the first steps on the road to bargaining for a collective agreement to advance the rights and interests of all of your members, which is the core of the labour union movement. While a great deal of work still lies before you, the first part is over, and you were successful! On behalf of all of our members, welcome! We look forward to working with you over the coming  months and years to improve our working conditions and raise the standards of the industry in this province. Solidarity!

Today, December 6th, is the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women. On this day, in conjunction with the ETEA Status of Women Committee and the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators, ETEA honours and remembers the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, as well as all those around the world who suffer violence or unfair treatment because of their gender. As educators, we owe it to our students, our community, and ourselves to try to make things better.

Today, and always, we remember them.