The picket lines are down, and more than 10,000 support staff from 23 colleges across the province, including Confederation College, will head back to work today.
Labour negotiations continued until 3 a.m. Wednesday before a tentative agreement was reached, said Owen Smith, Confederation College’s support staff president for Local 731 of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, also known as OPSEU. But Smith said there were no details of the agreement released at this point.
“It’s been a long five weeks,” Smith said.
“People are very frustrated on both sides, so we’ll just have to wait and see how the vote turns out.”
Smith said the ratification vote will take place in early November.
Confederation College support staff, all members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 731, joined more than 10,000 Ontario public college workers on the picket line on Sept. 11 after talks broke off with the College Employer Council. The dispute revolves around the need for more government funding for colleges after a cap on international students and a decline in enrolment impacted tuition revenue, resulting in thousands of layoffs and 650 program cuts across the province.
In March, Confederation College suspended 11 programs, including its culinary management, dental assisting and aerospace manufacturing engineering technician and technology courses.
Michelle Salo, president of the college, was relieved at the reaching of the tentative agreement on Wednesday.
“Confederation College is pleased that our support staff are returning to campus today,” Salo said to The Chronicle-Journal in a statement.
“We’re grateful for their dedication and the many important services they provide to our students. While many areas of the college continued to operate, we recognize that the strike caused some disruption for students. Our focus now is on restoring full operations and supporting students as they continue their studies.”
She added that they appreciate the patience and understanding of the students, employees, and community and look forward to resuming normal activities across the campuses.
During the strike action, the college services continued to operate with reduced hours.
