Conestoga College, unions clash over insufficient A/C on campus

Temperatures have soared amidst heat waves in Waterloo Region, and staff at a pair of Conestoga College campuses are alleging that the air conditioning in their building has been turned down.

Employees at the college’s Doon and Milton campuses allege that the college has reduced air conditioning usage as a cost-saving measure.

“It was 31 C yesterday morning,” said Vikki Poirier, president of OPSEU Local 238, representing support staff at Conestoga College. “None of the windows are open. There’s probably about 20 fans up here, and the fans are blowing directly on people.”

Poirier was at the Doon campus on Tuesday and noted that simply standing inside the building was causing her to sweat. She was on the campus after multiple complaints from her members who work on the premises, including one who had an “incident” because of the heat.

A memo was reportedly sent out to staff at the college to make them aware of some changes coming to their air conditioning system and how it’s operated, but Poirier is yet to receive a response from the college on what staff there can expect going forward.

“I think the college needs to rethink its decision to increase the threshold of the temperature,” said Poirier. “Like anything, it takes more time to get the system back up to par on a Monday than it would to keep the system at a straight level.”

Leopold Kopf, president of OPSEU Local 237, representing faculty, counsellors, and librarians, noted that he believes the college will report a surplus when the annual financial statements are released at the end of July, and that these “cost-saving” measures are not necessary.

“The health of safety of everybody involved, the faculty, the staff, and students, everyone, should be priority over any other financial considerations,” he said.

In April, Conestoga College cut an undisclosed number of administrative employees and terminated nearly 180 employees across its campuses.

Poirier added that, on top of affecting employee comfort, the changes to air conditioning operations also apply an extra pressure to her staff.

“When the college makes these decisions, it’s also an increased workload on my members to fix the issue during a time where we have a decrease in workforce and people still need to have an opportunity to take vacation,” added Poirier.

Conestoga College responded to these claims in a statement to 570 NewsRadio, claiming that there are no cutbacks to A/C usage for cost saving, but that there are ongoing HVAC issues on campus leading to poor cooling performance in some areas.

“The college is aware that recent HVAC system issues may have affected indoor temperatures and is actively working on solutions,” said Conestoga College. “The safety and well-being of our employees and students remain a top priority. Our Facilities and HVAC teams have prioritized resolving these issues and programming updates are underway to improve responsiveness and comfort.”

The college added that several of their campuses are currently operating on a summer schedule, reducing hours in low-trafficked buildings as part of their “sustainability commitments.” They have previously claimed that the reduction in hours is not related to a reported decrease in enrollment.

No timeline was given for when staff and students can expect the cooling issues to be resolved.