TORONTO – Support staff at Ontario colleges (post-secondary institutions) are on strike: a new contract agreement was not reached by the deadline — midnight between yesterday and today — and the 10,000 full-time support staff (represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union) didn’t get secure better wages, benefits, and job security.
According to the union, thousands of faculty and support staff are at risk of losing their jobs (if they haven’t already been laid off) due to hundreds of program cancellations and suspensions since last year, when the number of international students plummeted following the then-Justin Trudeau government’s decision to cap the number of international students admitted to Canada each year. This decision effectively crippled college budgets and, at the same time, led to cuts in programs and staffing. With fewer students, there are obviously fewer programs and, therefore, fewer staff.
Thus, on the one hand, support staff are demanding job protections and wage increases, while on the other, the College Employer Council claims that the union’s demands would expose colleges — already struggling due to the lack of international students (who paid high tuition) — to additional costs of over $900 million.
Classes, however, continue despite the strike, thanks to the fact that full and part-time professors are not on strike. “We don’t anticipate a lot of interruption for most of the students’ learning” Graham Lloyd, CEO of the College Employer Council (CEC), told CP24 this morning. Lloyd noted that courses “heavily dependent on laboratory work” could experience some disruption in the future, since “lab courses are dependent on support staff, technicians, etc.” who are, in fact, on strike.
Full-time support staff in colleges, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), work in disability services, financial aid offices, employment and IT services, food services, and other positions, including internship coordinators, librarians, and student careers coordinators.
“Colleges will do everything possible to minimize the impact of a strike on students. Student support services may be affected by the strike; colleges will communicate with the university community any impact the strike has on services” the CEC stated on its website. Among the initial disruptions caused by the strike are the closure of some daycare centers, such as those operated by George Brown College in Toronto, and the reduction of hours at some libraries.
In the pic above, a picket with OPSEU’s members (from Twitter X – @OPSEU)