More than 10,000 full-time support workers from Ontario’s 24 public colleges are going on strike starting Thursday in an effort to ensure job security, says the union.
The College Employer Council (CEC) “walked away from the [negotiation] table” after failing to respond since 4 p.m. Wednesday, said the support staff bargaining team from the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU).
“If they think they can neglect their responsibility to bargain, it’s time we remind them there is power in the union,” said the OPSEU in an emailed statement.
“This is not just a fight for a contract – it’s about the future of student support. We’re fighting because we know our students need us.”
The OPSEU, which represents librarian technicians, registrar employees, and technology support staff, and the CEC have been negotiating contracts, which expired on Sept. 1, since June.
Citing mass layoffs, the OPSEU says job security and appropriate funding are major concerns for staff.
The union estimated that previous and upcoming system-wide cuts will result in 10,000 job losses, and over 650 programs have already been cancelled, it said to CBC Toronto in August.
One of Ontario’s largest public-sector unions is calling on the provincial government to acknowledge newly released data on colleges. The new numbers highlight over 10,000 job losses, and more than 600 program cuts over the last year.
Over 55 community groups have joined the Ontario Federation of Labour’s pledge to support striking workers, said the OPSEU.
Post-secondary classes from Sault Ste. Marie to Kitchener to Oshawa are in full-swing, but the strike will bring essential service at public colleges to a halt. Picket lines at those schools will be in affect at various times and locations, the union said.
Negotiations failed after the OPSEU “insisted on its ‘poison pill’ demands,” said the CEC in an update on its website on Wednesday.
It says the union’s demands are fiscally impossible in a time when college enrolments and revenues are down by as much as 50 per cent.
The CEC urged the union to agree to arbitration to avoid disruption to student learning.
“A complete ban on campus closures, college mergers and staff reductions could force colleges into bankruptcy,” said the CEC’s CEO Graham Lloyd in the update.
“We remain far apart on a number of important issues and we strongly encourage the union to agree to mediation/arbitration to help us reach an agreement.”
The CEC says its proposal added more than $145 million in wage and benefit improvements to the collective agreement, including the following:
- Wage increase of two per cent in each year of the contract;
- Increased on-call premiums by 75 per cent;
- Enhanced vision and hearing benefits;
- Improvements to job security regarding new technology;
- Increased shift premiums by 67 and 75 per cent;
- Severance enhancements increased by 50 per cent for employees laid off due to the current financial crisis.
