Arlene Freeman interview
~ Interviewed by Andy Hanson and Harry Smaller
Arlene began her career as an elementary teacher in Toronto, eventually becoming a principal in the city. “Promotion for women was always a big issue,” she emphasizes (13:15).
She was the president of the Toronto local of the Federation of Women Teachers’ Federation (FWTAO) as it became part of the Toronto Teachers’ Federation (TTF), an amalgamation of the FWTAO local and the Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation (OPSTF) local (3:10). The two Toronto locals were among those few locals who amalgamated before the two provincial bodies of FWTAO and OPSTF amalgamated in 1998. While with the TTF, became the liaison with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF).
When she started teaching, a fellow teacher confided to her that she was married, while only a few years earlier, a woman who was married was not allowed to continue to teach (7:00) (20:30). An Arlene’s first year as a teacher, a woman could be married, but if she was pregnant, she had to take a leave of absence. “Paternity” or parental leave was one of the benefits the men gained from the work of the women’s union. It was pressure from FWTAO that brought about the changes (22:40).
Men were the only teachers being promoted in her earliest teaching (8:00). At one FWTAO annual general meeting, she was “accosted” in an attempted sexual assault (9:30). (She implies, but does not state, that this was by a male principal.)
When OSSTF became the first teachers’ union to develop a “war chest”, Arlene became the first person to sign a cheque to support it (16:00), even though she was with the elementary panel. Although, she was a principal during the first Toronto teachers’ strike, she retired in 1993, before the two-week strike against Mike Harris.
Arlene talks about the amalgamation of the two elementary teachers’ unions and has some misgivings (24:00). She outlines the structure of the amalgamated TTF (27:30). She knew no one who became an “associate member” of the OPSTF (32:40). She is critical of the failure of the current ETFO executive to address the “meat and potato” issues (36:00). (38:40). She was present for other Toronto strikes (40:30) over issues such as preparation time and “inner city status.” She felt that there is a current need for more social life between teachers (44:00). She believed in strikes and in the union having a war chest and viewed militancy from an urban perspective (45:00).