College strike frustrates students
College students are becoming increasing frustrated by the lack of communication between school faculty and faculty employers, which is ultimately keeping them out of classrooms.
About 500,000 students provincewide have had their classes suspended since Monday as college faculty walk the picket line.
Negotiations between Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 352, which represent teachers, librarians, counsellors and instructors, and the College Employers Council (CEC) came to a halt Sunday.
The College Student Alliance (CSA) has stepped in demanding both sides get back to the table. The alliance advocates on behalf on Ontario college students in partnership with student leaders.
Joel Willett, president of CSA, said students want to know that conversations are happening and that the parties aren’t going to just walk away if they don’t like a proposal put forward.
“Get to the table and stay there and hammer something out,” Willett said.
CEC and Local 352 have been working on a collective agreement since July. Conversations came to a halt Sunday, with faculty entering a legal strike position just after midnight Monday.
Local 352 is seeking control over academic decision-making, more stability for partial-load faculty and an even ratio of full-time to contract faculty. But CEC isn’t on board.
Despite both college officials and union members reassuring students that a strike has never had a damaging effect on an academic semester, it’s not doing the students much good. Willett said.
“That doesn’t really calm anybody’s concerns,” he said.
On Monday, Fleming College president Tony Tilly said contingency plans are in place for students’ return. But he didn’t say what those plans were, because they change with every day the strike continues.
Will students lose part of their course load? Will the semester be extended? Will student’s workload be intensified? They don’t know, said Willett.
The last time the union went on strike was in March 2006. It was out for 18 days.
Liz Mathewson, president of Local 352, said the union is ready to get back to negotiations.
“Our team is ready to go back to the table ... but I don’t know where the employer is,” she said.
Mathewson said the union has been receiving support from students on social media and at the picket line. Other unions have also backed Local 352.
Earlier this week, members of Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA) marched the picket line with Local 352, after handing over a $1,000 solidarity cheque to show their support. Funds will be used to offset costs for the union, such as buying umbrellas for rainy weather.
Local 352 is hosting a rally on Wednesday at both Frost and Sutherland campuses between 1 to 2 p.m. They’re inviting the community to wear blue and attend the rally to show their support.
If the strike is still going by Nov. 1, the CSA plans to host a rally that day at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Willett said they’re encouraging all supporters to attend.
On Friday, the Fleming Student Administrative Council sent a letter to MPP Jeff Leal, urging him to pressure CEC and OPSEU to make a deal.
When it looked like talks between the two were starting to crumble last week, college students launched a petition demanding a tuition refund for each day missed in the event of a strike.
The change.org petition is asking for full-time students to be reimbursed $30 a day and part-time students to get back $20 a day.
“Students suffer the most, yet we are not part of the conversation. We lose learning. We lose time. We demand a refund,” the petition reads.
There were more than 93,760 signatures on the document by Friday afternoon.
But Willett said the CSA isn’t concerned with the money as much as its concerned about the impact the strike is having on students’ education.
“What’s more important is getting back in class and overall that’s what students want,” he said.