College teachers, faculty vote on strike
Posted Sep 14, 2017 03:14:02 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Students at Conestoga College say they’re caught off guard, as more than 700 local teachers, librarians and more were expected to cast ballots today to decide whether or not to give their union a strike mandate.
Faculty at all of Ontario’s 24 colleges are being asked to support the strike vote, as OPSEU continues to bargain for a new collective agreement.
“Why would I spend all this money to come to class to find out that they’re mandating a vote, which nobody had told me at the beginning of the year, when I was signing up, that this was a possibility?” says Stephan, who studies business at Consetoga’s Doon Campus.
Polls are now closed at Conestoga, while others across the province could stay open as late as 7 p.m. The results of the vote should be known late tonight.
Alexandra is a student in the Hearing Instrument Specialist program, and is worried about the impact a walkout could have on her courses.
“I wouldn’t want to have my classes interrupted, it’s a tight enough schedule as it is,” she tells 570 NEWS. “Anything that detains us now would just obstruct my whole class year, so I really hope they don’t go on strike.”
However, Lana-Lee Hardacre, president of OPSEU local 237, is hopeful the strike vote won’t end on the picket lines.
“We have had 12 strike votes in the 50 years the colleges have existed, and only three of them resulted in a strike,” Hardacre says. “So we can do it. We can get a negotiated settlement.”
Hardacre says the current offer puts the future of the college system at stake.
“It has big concessions. One is a moratorium on the hiring of full-time faculty,” she says. “This means that students have less access to their teachers, because the people who are part-time come to teach and leave. They’re not paid to be on campus.”
Still, students are upset this is happening just as the new school year gets underway.
“It is very inconvenient for students especially because they’re here to learn,” says Rebecca, a third-year nursing student. “But it is their right and I hope it gets figured out for them.”
The current contract for faculty expires on September 30, but it’s not known if a picket line will go up after that date.
