Support staff at colleges all over Ontario walked off the job Sept. 1, according to the chair of the bargaining team representing their union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
The support staff wants a 3 per cent salary increase every year, said Rod Bemister, a member of OPSEU, in a press release.
He said they also want the colleges to offer more full-time jobs.
Ontario’s 24 colleges have been without 8,000 information technology specialists, maintenance workers, and secretaries, Bemister said.
The support workers filed a strike notice Aug. 25, Bemister said.
On Aug. 26, the bargaining team that represents the colleges said they’d be willing to offer a 1.5 per cent salary increase over the first two years of the contract and a 1.75 per cent increase in the third year, the CBC said.
Both parties met Aug. 29 to negotiate but no agreement was reached.
The last support staff strike was in 1979, said Sandra Markus, director of communications at Algonquin College.
She said students can expect longer lineups at the registrar’s office and fewer options at the cafeteria.
“They have a right to strike, we have a right to work,” Marcus said, [and] students have a right to come to class. It all needs to be very respectful”
David Leggeri, first-year Algonquin automotive technician student, said the strike could cause some confusion for him.
“This will be my first year going, so that would mean I have no one to go to if I have questions.” Leggeri said.
Cheyenne Quinn is a second-year student in Algonquin’s animation program. She said management’s offer seems fair.
“[Colleges have done] a terrible job of informing their students about the strike,” Quinn said. “Maybe they don’t want us to worry about it.”
Reena Vriend, a first-year student at Master’s College and Seminary in Peterborough, Ont., said she worries about how the strike will affect her life as a residence student.
“It will definitely make things more confusing and messy,” she said. “I’ll just have to take it as it comes.”
