The day before the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) was set to guide Brock University’s support staff into a strike, the union reached a tentative agreement with the university.
OSSTF, the union representing over 150 support staff in library, clerical and administrative sectors of Brock University, announced on Jan. 13 that they had set a strike deadline starting at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 16 if Brock University did not accept an adequate deal with the union in advance of the deadline.
Following “eight months of incredibly slow bargaining,” OSSTF turned to a strike to make changes for their members working for Brock University.
Martha Hradowy, the Provincial Vice President of OSSTF, said that achieving “fair wages, equitable working conditions and long-term job security” for Brock University’s support staff was the union’s top priority going into plans to strike.
Furthermore, Wanda Gilmore, the President of the District 35 OSSTF Brock University Support Staff Bargaining Unit, said that Brock was “determined to erode working conditions and increase precarity” for support staff. Gilmore said that the workers they represent can no longer be “undervalued and shortchanged” by Brock.
Had the strike proceeded, it would have been the first in the history of the OSSTF Brock University Support Staff Bargaining Unit that called for over 150 employees to take strike action.
Dr. Tami J. Friedman, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Brock University, suggested the bargaining difficulties between OSSTF and Brock University could be related to Brock’s hiring of a consulting firm tasked to “find efficiencies.”
“The support staff at Brock are already in a pretty vulnerable position, and this consulting firm’s mandate is a real source of concern — not to mention unsettling and stressful for support staff,” said Dr. Friedman.
After no conclusion came from the Jan. 14 meeting between the Brock administration and OSSTF — the meeting in which OSSTF said they planned to strike if no resolution was met — many students braced for picket lines to surround the perimeter of the university’s main campus.
However, on Jan. 16, OSSTF announced that they reached a tentative agreement with the University. Gilmore called the bargaining process “lengthy and difficult,” saying that OSSTF members demonstrated “enormous solidarity and strength” during the labour disputes.
Gilmore said that the support shown for the bargaining team was a major factor in reaching a deal with Brock University that is worthy for imminent ratification. OSSTF and its members at Brock University “were committed to do what was necessary” to reach a fair deal, despite the intense process it took to get there.
Specific details regarding the tentative agreement between Brock University and OSSTF will remain confidential until it sees ratification from both parties.