Teachers undertake negotiations with the province
About 800 delegates are in Toronto today through Thursday, for the annual meeting of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.
The group represents about 83 thousand members in Ontario’s public schools.
Delegates will be deciding union policies for the coming school year and will be updated on contract talks with the provincial government, which began earlier this summer.
Their contract expires at the end of August but, so far, no strike vote has been called.
The union says it’s asking for sizeable pay increases to cope with galloping inflation.
Premier Doug Ford has said they’ll be offered more than the one-per-cent increase allowed under government legislation but only if teachers resume extracurricular activities this fall.
The union notes such activities are voluntary.
China and Taiwan tensions continue
China is conducting new live-fire military exercises around Taiwan today, after word that a U-S Congressional delegation is visiting the island.
The five-member group of Democrats and Republicans is there to hold discussions on trade, regional security, and climate change.
The visit comes in the wake of the trip to the self-ruled island by U-S House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
China says the latest exercises are in response to activities by the United States and Taiwan to undermine “peace and stability” in the region.
Increased fighting on two fronts
Ukrainian officials are reporting heavy shelling in the eastern Donetsk region, as Russian forces continue to press their attacks to take over the province.
It’s part of the area of Ukraine that Russia has declared independent, following eight years of activity by Russian-backed separatists.
Ukraine is also reporting rocket and artillery attacks in the southern region of Kherson, where Ukrainian forces have been staging an offensive to recapture lost territory.
The region is key to Russia’s control of Crimea, which it occupied in 2014.
Reaction to Trump raid
The FBI and the U-S Department of Homeland Security are warning law enforcement agencies to be vigilant and to remain current on information about domestic terrorist threats.
The warning comes as threats against policing agencies rise sharply across the U-S, following the FBI’s raid on former President Donald Trump’s Florida home.
The threats are being found mostly online, with federal officials the main target.
The raid reportedly uncovered several boxes of top-secret papers, including information on U-S nuclear weapons, that Trump took with him following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.