Mohawk students join QP rally to end college faculty strike

At least 20 Mohawk College students are expected to join a rally at Queen’s Park Wednesday in hopes of getting both sides of the college faculty strike back to negotiating before they lose their semester.

“They’re at a standstill and we want them to get back to the negotiating table,” said Samantha Hoover, president of the Mohawk Students’ Association. The association has arranged for buses in the morning to take students to the afternoon rally from 1 to 3 p.m. in front of the Ontario Legislature.

“We’re banding together to make sure they hear us,” Hoover said. “The student voice matters.”

Hoover said students are frustrated and upset at the strike.

“We don’t have a say in the negotiations, but it affects (students) the most. They’ve paid to learn and are currently unable to learn.”

Getting back to class is “crucial to their education and their well-being.”

The strike at 24 colleges, including Niagara and Sheridan, is now in its third week and is affecting 500,000 students. Most students, including Mohawk’s, have missed two weeks of classes because last week for many was a reading week.

Abdulla Mushtaq, with the College Student Alliance which is hosting the rally, said the gathering is intended to pressure both sides to get back to the negotiating table before students lose their semester.

“The second goal is to show our frustration and the helplessness students are feeling, to the government,” he added.

Mushtaq, who is expecting about 250 students at the rally, said the provincial government has ramped up the pressure on both sides just a little bit to get back to negotiations.

“We’re hoping the student show of strength will get them to ramp it up more.”

Mushtaq said Advanced Education and Skills Development Minister Deb Matthews is scheduled to speak to the rally as well as NDP advanced education critic Peggy Sadler.

Geoff Ondercin-Bourne, president of OPSEU Local 240, representing Mohawk’s faculty and staff, said talks are at a standstill and there are no dates yet for the two sides to resume talks.

Although no talks are planned, Ondercin-Bourne said he suspects there may be movement behind closed doors by the Ontario government to get the two sides back to the table.

He called the student rally a fantastic move. “I think it’s great.” Ondercin-Bourne, fresh off the day’s picket line Tuesday, said faculty are concerned about the students losing their semester — and that he is particularly concerned about students who are already struggling with their studies losing their year. A tentative Mohawk contingency plan is if the strike is settled soon is to have classes go to Dec. 22 and then wait until the beginning of January to hold exams and then start the second semester right away, he said. This would mean getting rid of the second semester reading week, he added.

“It will be a pretty compressed and stressful situation for some students,” he said. “The A students will be fine. But those who struggle could still lose their semester by trying to catch up.”

If the strike were to wrap up soon however, and faculty were back to work by the middle of next week “I think we can pull it off … but there’s a certain point at which that becomes difficult.”

Meanwhile, Ondercin-Bourne said the mood among Mohawk faculty on the picket line is good because it is getting a lot of support from the public this time.

“This (strike issue) is about precarious work, and a lot of people can relate to it,” he said. “It’s almost like it’s the issue of our time in employment.”

The strike has seen 12,000 fulltime and partial-load instructors hit the picket line.