Striking full-time college support workers from across southwestern Ontario converged Tuesday morning at Conestoga College’s Doon campus in Kitchener, escalating coordinated job action that has disrupted operations across the province’s college system.
Workers from Conestoga were joined by colleagues from Sheridan, Mohawk and Fanshawe colleges as part of a regional show of solidarity.
“What we also have is the College Employer Council and the college presidents refusing to bargain with them, to make sure their jobs are secure,” said JP Hornick, president of OPSEU. “These are good jobs that remain in the community, and that managers are not trying to do the support staff work instead...we’re going to be escalating across Ontario.”
The coordinated demonstrations follow provincewide actions last Thursday that prompted at least two colleges to suspend all in-person classes and several others to announce major delays.
Despite three days of mediation last week, talks between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents the workers, and the College Employer Council broke down after the employer and college presidents declared an impasse. The union said the sticking point remains to be the employer’s refusal to include job security language in a new collective agreement.
“This is a fight to protect the future for students,” Hornick said. “Because if the colleges become privatized colleges, then we know that the quality goes down, we know that the supports aren’t there and we know that these jobs leave the community and the profits go to shareholders rather than staying to support the community.”
Union representatives said the dispute comes amid what they describe as one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario’s post-secondary sector, with an estimated 10,000 college workers laid off, hundreds of programs suspended or cancelled and several campuses facing closure in recent weeks.
Closure of Doon campus
In response to the anticipated demonstrations, Conestoga College announced early Tuesday that its Kitchener–Doon campus was temporarily closed to vehicle traffic “effective immediately and until further notice,” citing safety concerns and expected traffic disruptions.
“All on-campus classes and activities are temporarily suspended,” the college said in a statement. “We remain hopeful that the Doon campus may reopen later today.”
“I feel if it stays like this, our woodworking shop has to shut [down] because the support staff are really important to us and some of our machines need to be maintained,” said woodworking student Zelda. “It’s been shut off for two weeks already...should we be asking for some refund for the course? We’re thinking about it but I would say most of us are a little bit afraid of complaining about this.”
The college advised students that instructors would contact them directly with updates on course delivery and asked employees to coordinate with their managers about the possibility of working remotely or from alternate campuses.
“I came here and now I got an email that it was canceled,” said predictive analytics student Mehak. “Still, I had to wait because I didn’t get any confirmation yet from the professors. So I have to wait. And if it’s canceled, I need to go back. It would be really difficult...I can understand their situation as well so I don’t have any grudges towards them.”
The college said students and staff already on campus are free to remain, while those accessing the campus on foot will be permitted entry.
In a social media post at 3 p.m. Tuesday, the school announced the campus would reopen for activities and planned events at 4 p.m. and in-person classes and labs would resume on Wednesday.
“However, those taking Continuing Education courses or participating in Corporate Training activities this evening at the Doon campus are asked to check eConestoga and follow the format for their class delivery this evening as communicated by their faculty earlier today,” the post said.
College Employer Council’s response
The College Employer Council (CEC), which represents Ontario’s publicly funded colleges in collective bargaining, said it was “deeply frustrated” by what it described as a breakdown in mediation talks caused by OPSEU reversing course during negotiations.
“OPSEU’s recent actions, disrupting operations at Conestoga College and other colleges across the province, place its objectives ahead of students’ needs,” the CEC said in a statement. “Colleges fully respect employees’ constitutional right to strike and picket. However, obstructing students’ safe access to campuses crosses a line that is not in the student’s best interests.”
The CEC said it has offered “enhanced proposals” now exceeding $155 million, including improvements to contracting-out and technology-change protections, higher wages, expanded on-call pay and additional bereavement leave.
According to the council, the union tabled “ultimatum proposals” that rolled back progress made in mediation — including a ban on all contracting out unless approved by the union and restrictions on deans speaking to students about topics such as financial aid or study techniques.
“Support staff employees already have protections in these areas. The current collective agreement already prohibits layoffs as a direct result of contracting out [see Appendix I, page 120 of the Collective Agreement] and protects the Support Staff unit in Appendix B,” said Graham Lloyd, CEO of CEC.
‘We care about our students’
Striking workers on the Conestoga campus say they are fighting for fairness and the future of public education.
“We really care about our students and we want to help with our jobs that we do — or used to do,” said Melissa Leacy, an asset management specialist at Conestoga. “We are fighting for them and their future education and future children’s education. We want a fair contract; we also want to provide a college experience that is up to their standards.”
“We want their attention,” added Vikki Poirier, president of OPSEU Local 238. “We want both sides to go back to the table. We want our members to get back in there to support the students.”
