In this inspiring history of a union, labour historian Andy Hanson delves deep into the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and how it evolved from two deeply divided unions to one of the province’s most united and powerful voices for educators.

Today’s teacher is under constant pressure to raise students’ test scores, while the rise of neoliberalism in Canada has systematically stripped our education system of funding and support. But educators have been fighting back with decades of fierce labour action, from a landmark province-wide strike in the 1970s, to record-breaking front-line organizing against the Harris government and the Common Sense Revolution, to present-day picket lines and bargaining tables.

Hanson follows the making of elementary teachers in Ontario as a distinct class of white-collar, public-sector workers who awoke in the last quarter of the twentieth century to the power of their collective strength.

Andy Hanson retired from teaching to write labour history. He lives in Toronto with his partner. In the 1997 campaign against Premier Mike Harris, he was a member of the local consolidated committee of five teachers’ unions organizing marches and rallies, co-ordinating picket lines, and communicating with members. After the men’s and women’s elementary teachers amalgamated, he was elected ETFO local vice-president and held that position for twelve years. Hanson received his PhD in Canadian Studies from Trent University in 2013. 

Andy Hanson's profile page

"Andy Hanson’s Class Action is an accessible and fascinating explanation of the history of public education in Ontario and the battles that made public elementary teachers into a force in the labour movement."

<p>Spring Magazine</p>