TERI PECOSKIE
HUMBER ET CETERA
Photo courtesy Ontario College Students Against A Strike
Ontario’s community college instructors approved their union’s strike mandate in a province-wide vote Wednesday.
OPSEU representative Greg Hamara said 57 per cent of instructors voted in favour of strike action if an agreement with Colleges Ontario can’t be reached.
Around 7,300 instructors went to the polls Wednesday and the mandate was endorsed at 18 of the province’s 24 community colleges, he added.
Hamara said he couldn’t comment on which way the vote went at Humber because results from individual schools will not be released to the public.
Even though a strike has been given the green light, OPSEU is confident the results of the vote will provide the union with enough leverage to get what they want at the bargaining table without having to head to the picket lines, Hamara said.
“In the past 35 years, college faculties have only walked out three times. In none of those cases was the students’ year ever put in jeopardy,” said Hamara. “I would advise students to roll up their sleeves and get ready to work.”
According to its website, OPSEU is fighting for instructors to receive a 2.5 per cent pay increase in each year of a three-year contract, a reduced workload and more academic freedom.
Talks between OPSEU and management collapsed midway through December after five months of contract negotiations.
Around 200,000 full-time students and 300,000 part-time students could be affected if a deal can’t be reached between the two sides.