STRIKE: College workers could be on strike next week in Ontario

Some 15,000 full-time and part-time college faculty across Ontario are set to go on strike starting next week, the workers’ union says.

After months of bargaining with the colleges through the College Employer Council, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) says it is issuing a five-day labour action notice as students across the province prepare to head back to class.

Last month the union said it would be in a legal strike position as of Jan. 4, but would have to provide five days’ notice before embarking on a strike.

OPSEU says issuing the notice “opens the door to any form of strike action beginning January 9th, 2025.”

The union has said it has been bargaining with the College Employer Council over erosion of working conditions, job security and quality of education. But the CEC says those demands will increase academic costs amid colleges’ financial losses due to declining enrolment and government policy changes.

OPSEU said the parties will meet again for a non-binding mediation on Monday and Tuesday, and that the union is “committed to bargaining productively.”

“Any labour action will disrupt our lives – it’s a sacrifice for a better future, not a holiday,” the union said in a statement. “This is not a decision we have made lightly.”

The union says the strike notice was “forced by the failed stewardship of college executives, CEOs, and out-of-touch politicians eroding quality education and piloting the college system into the present crisis.”

Ontario’s colleges and universities have said that the federal government’s cap on international students is taking a toll on the higher education sector as some schools face growing deficits, layoffs and program cuts.

The CEC is the bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 public colleges including Sheridan, Algonquin, Conestoga, Durham, and Humber.

Graham Lloyd, the council’s CEO, says he’s disappointed the union chose to give notice just days before mediation was set to resume.

“We urge OPSEU to enter mediation this week with more realistic demands so that we can get a deal and avoid an unnecessary strike,” he said in a statement.

– With filed from The Canadian Press