Liberals let college strike go on too long, for no gain

The NDP is taking a lot of heat for refusing to support back-to-work legislation for college teachers, thus delaying by about a day a return to class by students.

The heat is well deserved. Ideological inflexibility is not a virtue in these situations. As a matter of principle, the NDP is against forcing strikers back to work, no matter what the circumstances.

In addition, collective bargaining is a sacred principle to the NDP, no matter how much it has been proven to be ineffective, if not totally useless, in settling disputes such as this one.

However, the NDP is not the only party that must shoulder responsibility for keeping college students out for five weeks.

Precious time was wasted when the colleges tried detouring around union leaders and forcing members to vote on a proposal that turned out to be doomed.

Union leaders don’t escape responsibility for the strike dragging on either. They chose to die on the hill of “academic freedom.” It’s a complex and thorny issue that needs to be resolved, with input from the people of Ontario who pay the freight for colleges.

It is not an issue to be discussed while teachers are shivering on picket lines and students face losing their semester.

With half a million students turfed out of class by this strike, there are that many stories of hardship. Worst among those are the young people who have given up jobs or borrowed in order to return to class in the name of self-improvement.

With lots of blame to go around, the lion’s share of responsibility still lies with the provincial government.

Back to work legislation was required to end this messy situation and there is no reason why it wasn’t introduced weeks ago. At two weeks this strike had dragged on too long and the situation only went downhill after that.

This is the same government that paid millions to public sector unions to cover expenses the unions might incur while bargaining against the people of Ontario.

At the time of that piece of nonsense, renowned labour lawyer, Howard Levitt wrote, “In my 37 years of practising labour law, I have never even heard of, let alone been involved in, an employer client reimbursing unions for their costs at the bargaining table.”

So, the Liberals have been prounion, except when it comes to the complex issues around colleges, including full versus part-time.

Instead of getting on with a resolution, the government continues to drag its feet to the point of being ineffective.

Another question about this laggardly approach to getting colleges open again, is the government’s recent catering to Ontario students of roughly college age.

These are the same legislators who are trying to buy the votes of young people by giving everyone younger than 25 access to prescription drugs, free of charge.

So young people from families who live on millionaire’s row get free drugs, but those who have risked everything to get more education are left hanging on by the tips of their fingers.

These differing approaches show an unsettling lack of strategy even on this government’s only priority issue, getting re-elected.

The only way Premier Kathleen Wynne and gang show consistency seems to be by being inconsistent.

How long can this go on?