TEMISKAMING SHORES — Under cool, cloudy skies, Northern College (NC) support staff and their college counterparts across Ontario took to the picket lines last Thursday.
The 10,000 full time support staff across Ontario were in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. on September 11.
Ontario Public Service Employee Union (OPSEU) workers were on the picket line at the Haileybury and New Liskeard campuses of Northern College.
Their jobs include trades staff, student workers, financial aid officers, employment services, IT services, food services, library technologists, and disability service staffers.
The union says the colleges’ bargaining agent left the negotiating table with remaining issues to be resolved.
Across the province, job security, wages and access to public education are the stumbling blocks to a settlement.
According to OPSEU local president Aaron Minor, who represents full-time support staff at Northern College, there are several pressing reasons why his membership has gone out on strike.
“I am an employee of Northern College and my membership consists of roughly 150 members of my bargaining unit who cover everything from student services, employment services, skilled trades workers, caretakers, program assistants, daycare workers who are currently on the picket lines.”
He said in the last six months in Ontario there have been 10,000 jobs lost.
“My employer cut 50 jobs and we had a six million dollar deficit that the college had to address. Over 30 of those full-time jobs were lost from my bargaining unit alone. Those positions, many of them are still vacant. Seeing across Ontario what is happening at the 24 colleges, our bargaining unit on our behalf is working to strengthen job security in our collective agreement.”
He said the contract language between the two sides is still outstanding and he hopes the no-contracting-out language will be addressed.
“Right now we can’t fight back on having entire departments cut and bringing in contractors. We are asking for strong no-contracting-out language and further to that, as members were laid off or voluntarily left, they thought they were helping other members, the management is now doing our jobs in the workforce. We are asking for no non-bargaining workers doing our jobs in the workforce.”
He said wages are not as contentious an issue as job security.
“Right now we need strength in job security.”
Minor says there are no talks scheduled between the college and its striking workers (as of this writing) and he has no idea how long they will be on the picket line.
He mentioned the strike affects more than students and staff – the public is also affected by the lack of employment services for those who are unemployed and those looking for retraining.
COLLEGES HIT HARD
Ontario’s colleges have been hit hard by cuts to international student enrollment levels. They pay several times more in tuition, which schools had come to rely on to boost revenues.
In a telephone interview earlier in the week, College Employer Council chief executive officer Graham Lloyd spoke about the tight spot Ontario’s colleges are in and how some of the demands of the support workers can and cannot be met.
“We are disappointed with the strike. The colleges are in a significant financial restraint. They have lost up to 50 per cent of students and their revenue and the colleges have had to make some significant decisions to date. We have offered the union some pretty big things in this contract amounting to more than $140 million with wage benefits, protection for contracting out, enhanced severance packages, enhanced recall period. But they have demands on the table we just can’t agree to.”
He outlined four main points to the strike that he sees as crucial to protecting students and getting the two sides back to the bargaining table.
“The four issues are no campus closures or mergers. They want a guarantee of no staff reductions for any reason and then there are two other ones. No contacting out – they already have that provision, what they want to expand it to for any purpose you cannot contract out. It’s not financially viable for us. Then the other one they have, it is a provision for only bargaining unit people (that) can do bargaining unit jobs. We have asked them to go to mediation and an arbitrator. We won’t give it to them and that protects the students.”
He said the fact that colleges don’t have as many foreign students is unfortunately the reality that Ontario colleges have to live with.
“We have half the students and half the revenue and that has placed pressure on college budgets. We are hopeful the union will recognize some demands are certainly not tenable, let’s protect the students.”
