The Ontario government and school boards are “in for the fight of their lives” if they push proposals that could “undermine” public education or increase class sizes, says Sam Hammond.

On Monday, the president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario told 800 delegates to the union’s annual meeting that while provincial bargaining talks are to resume Sept. 1, “just saying nice things about wanting to restart bargaining isn’t going to cut it. We need action … a real commitment to negotiate in good faith.”

Hammond said he expects “to engage in serious, respectful bargaining … if that doesn’t happen, then I say to the government and I say to (the school boards’ association) you are in for the fight of your lives.”

His comments followed Premier Kathleen Wynne’s remarks to reporters at an event in Brampton that she is more “optimistic now than I was a few weeks ago (about a teacher settlement), but it is obviously going to be a hard few weeks as we work to make sure that kids are in school. It is my number one priority as we go into the fall.”

Elementary, secondary and Catholic teachers’ unions have all agreed to return to provincial bargaining — the latter two this week.

“The talks have restarted and that's a very, very good thing,” Wynne said.

In his speech, Hammond noted the Liberal government implemented full-day kindergarten, put class-size caps in place in the primary grades and agreed to a hiring policy the union supports. He said he wonders “why the Liberal government is silent when (the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association) comes to the bargaining table with proposals that would undermine” those initiatives.

OPSBA and the government have both said they do not want any changes to elementary class sizes.

School boards do not support Regulation 274, which forces principals to hire long-term supply teachers or permanent jobs based on seniority, and even the premier said, at one time, that she believed the new rules went too far in dealing with perceived nepotism.

Hammond will speak again Thursday morning, after discussions with delegates about the union’s work-to-rule plans for the fall.

ETFO has already advised teachers not to plan any field trips for the upcoming school year.

The province’s secondary and Catholic teacher unions have announced drastic work-to-rule campaigns, including no extracurricular activities — and, for the Catholic teachers, no extra help for students, refusing parent-teacher interviews and banning parent volunteers. That union has even advised members not to put up bulletin boards in their classrooms.