The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) gave a strike notice for 24 Ontario colleges.
On Jan. 3, the union OPSEU gave a five-day strike notice for 24 Ontario colleges including Niagara College, York University’s collegesSeneca, Algonquin and Humber College. College faculty are most concerned with workload, a topic the union has been trying to address for years.
The union requested a no-board report from the ministry of labour last month, kick-starting a 16-off period which ended on Jan. 4.
OPSEU is currently in the negotiation stage with the College Employment Council (CEC), but it does not seem that things will be resolved quickly. Former president of OPSEU and Laurentian University professor David Fasciano pointed out in a CTV News Report that “the way faculty workloads are assigned was determined in the 80s.” More than 40 years old, these workloads do not take into consideration technology like the computer, internet, video calls, online courses or other online preparation.
In an email to CTV News, the College Employment Council CEO Graham Lloyd said the union’s demands ignore financial realities like low enrolment, government policy changes and higher costs.
OPSEU’s list of requests includes a 25 per cent reduction in teaching times for professors and instructors. This would mean an average of less than 9 hours per week of class time according to College Employer Council. In a post on X, OPSEU shared that a 2021 auditor general’s report found that Ontario colleges had become dependent on international student tuition. They add that the government has “starved this sector for years.”
On Jan. 7 OPSEU posted an update: “Ontario’s colleges will narrowly avoid a strike this term: faculty signed a MOA today with significant benefit gains, particularly for their 75 per cent precarious membership, and has agreed to resolve outstanding items in med-arb.
The strike has been averted for the time being, and students are relieved. OPSEU’s message in their last post claims that Doug Ford is the root cause of the problem, and that he’s “gambling away Ontario’s future.”
You can find the full list of colleges in the OPSEU here.