Ontario's community college faculty could strike as soon as this Thursday. That includes Niagara College.
After six months of bargaining, college faculty and management have been unable to agree on a new contract, in fact, OPSEU says the latest offer leaves workers "worse off" than their expired agreement.
"The College Employer Council (CEC) continues to table language that works against faculty interests at a time when colleges are threatening frontline workers with austerity and the majority of courses are being delivered by faculty who work on precarious contracts, with no job security and little to no benefits," said the union today.
Today, the college faculty gave their five-day notice of beginning labour action. This opens the door to any form of strike action beginning Thursday, January 9. College faculty represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union are in a legal strike position as of tomorrow,
However, the two parties will meet again in non-binding mediation on January 6-7.
"We remain committed to bargaining productively, as we have over the last six months, but we must also be pragmatic. If we cannot reach an agreement in mediation, it is unlikely that a deal that protects faculty futures can be reached without the urgency of labour action," says an OPSEU release.
"We love our work. We want to be in our classrooms, labs, libraries, and offices, supporting students. But our work can’t come at the cost of floating the college system on our unpaid labour: about $24,500 per faculty member, annually."
The union blames the imminent job action on the "failed stewardship of college executives, CEOs, and out-of-touch politicians eroding quality education and piloting the college system into the present crisis."
The CEC has not responded to the notice of job action but points out on its website that the two parties have met on more than 17 occasions over the course of the year to bargain a renewal collective agreement.
The union represents about 15,000 full-time and part-time professors and instructors, as well as counsellors and librarians.
