Uncertainty surrounds college semester in Ontario as strike deadline looms

Students at Ontario’s 24 public colleges are beginning their winter semester under the cloud of a potential strike.

The union representing full-time faculty, partial-load contract faculty, librarians and counsellors could begin job action as soon as Thursday, Jan. 9.

“Our workload methodology and assignment of workload and resources is truly 40 years out of date,” said Leopold Koff, the president of OPSEU CAAT-A Local 237, which represents staff at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont.

Negotiations between OPSEU CAAT-A and the College Employer Council have been going on since the summer.

A major sticking point is changing the expectations around workload.

Koff said the current framework does not take into consideration technology, new demands, standards, degrees or research.

According to the College Employer Council, the union is asking for a 25 per cent reduction in teaching time to fewer than, on average, nine hours a week.

JP Hornick, OPSEU’s president, said what they are asking for is pay for work outside the classroom that they are already doing.

“Right now, we have a system built which has normalized overwork,” Hornick explained. “The level of volunteerism, on average, means that a college faculty member is contributing $24,000 a year in unpaid labour.”

Local 237 represents about 1,349 faculty members, counsellors and librarians at Conestoga College. Of those, 610 are partial-load (contract) faculty, who work 7 to 12 hours a week. Koff said they are semester-to-semester, with no guarantees, another major item the union wants addressed in a new contract.

Mediation between the two sides is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

The College Employer Council is not commenting at this time, but in the past they have cited instability in the college sector, predicting $1.7 billion in losses.

They allege the union is making demands they know the college can’t agree to.

Colleges are facing a tuition freeze by the provincial government, and a more recent cap on international students imposed by the federal government.

Koff said, in spite of this, now is the best time to make systemic changes.

“The changes have to happen in order to make use of our resources now, to maintain the integrity of the system we have,” he told CTV News. “If we don’t, we are going to deteriorate and become even more inferior than we may be moving towards now.”

At this time, the union has not announced what form job action could take.

Koff said locally, in Kitchener, Ont., members have to be ready for the possibility of a strike.

“We have to be prepared, if that's the direction they give, that we are ready with our porta-potties, our trailers, our burn barrels, our signs,” said Koff. “We will be on the picket line on Thursday if that's what they direct us to do next.”

On Monday, students at Conestoga College’s Kitchener campus said they were frustrated with the uncertainty and already worried about lost time.

“It's a little bit frustrating for the student body as to how it's going to proceed through this year,” admitted first-year student Joanne Meggs.

“We're all kind of confused and frustrated with our daily lives, because we all just want to get our credits and our diplomas and get out of here,” said Emily Paiva, another first-year student.

Conestoga College did not provide anyone for an interview on Monday, but on its website it indicated classes and services will continue as normal for now and promised to provide more information if a strike is called.

The site also directed students to a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page from the College Employer Council, indicating a strike could lead to delays but colleges would do everything possible to ensure students finish their semester.

It noted that, in the past, colleges have never lost a semester to a strike.