Unofficial results will be in tomorrow on whether or not community college support staff will endorse a strike mandate.
If members vote in favour of a strike, their bargaining unit will be authorized to call one if they don’t reach an agreement with their college employers.
While the vote involves college support staff from across Ontario, four support staff are a part of the bargaining team from Confederation College’s campus in Fort Frances.
Advanced polls were held July 10, with further voting today.
“We’ve been meeting with the employer since February,” said OPSEU Local 731 president Richard Bellau, who represents Confederation College, including the campus here.
While talks broke off June 12, he said there will be further mediation in mid-August. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” Bellau said of the future talks.
The union is looking for more job security and benefits, as well as parity with faculty on the percentage wage increase per year, he noted.
“We’re always hopeful that we will be able to reach successful negotiations,” Confederation College president Pat Lang said.
“Our plan at this point is that if a strike were to occur, that we would keep our campuses open, and that obviously we would be working with reduced services but that we would keep the campuses open and operating,” she remarked.
Fort Frances Times
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