Oct. 15 college strike looming

Oct. 15 at 12:01 a.m. has been set as the legal time that a strike or lockout could be called for unionized faculty staff at Ontario’s 24 community colleges.

The conciliator set the date Thursday after the Ontario Public Services Employees Union asked for a no-board report last week over stalled talks for a new contract.

Either side would have to give five days of notice before any strike or lockout could be called.

“The reason for requesting the no-board report, and thus a legal strike or lockout date, was to encourage our employer to get down to business and work with us at the bargaining table to reach a fair settlement,” stated J.P. Hornick, chairman of the union’s college faculty bargaining team. “That remains our goal. Our team will do everything in its power to achieve that settlement.”

The 12,000 teachers, instructors, counsellors and librarians, including those at Fleming College in Peterborough, Lindsay, Haliburton and Cobourg, voted 68 per cent in favour of giving the union a strike mandate in a vote taken two weeks ago.

Education quality and use of contract faculty are issues in the talks, according to the union.

“Half a million students come to college to get the education they need for the job they want and the labour market demands,” stated OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas. “It is hypocritical of the colleges, who promise students a good job and a bright future, to turn around and force thousands of contract staff into jobs with low pay, no benefits, and no job security of any kind.”

Earlier in the talks, Ontario’s colleges offered the faculty members a 7.5 per cent pay raise over the next four years, which would hike pay for full-time instructors to a maximum $115,094 by 2020. The colleges also offered lumpsum payments and improvements to drug and benefits coverage.

The union wants the colleges to turn 7,120 contract faculty positions into 2,840 new full-time faculty positions, a net reduction of 4,280 contract faculty jobs, according to the College Employer Council, which negotiates for the colleges.

The union also wants a 2.25 per cent wage increase per year over three years plus a new step in the salary grid, which would add up to an increase of more than 10 per cent over three years, according to the College Employer Council.

There was no word Thursday on when new talks are planned.

Fleming College is preparing a contingency plan in case there is a strike or lockout, college president Tony Tilly has said.