OPSEU holds solidarity rally with striking Loyalist College support staff

Today marks the fifth day of picket lines across all of Ontario’s 24 colleges.

Support staff, represented by the Ontario Public Employees Union, kicked in their strike mandate on September 11th after a new contract could not be reached with the College Employer Council.

Local OPSEU 420 and 421, which represents Loyalist College full-time faculty and support staff, continues to state that the combination of underfunding by the Ford Government, cuts to international student numbers, and major infrastructure projects at Loyalist have led to a tipping point.

The College Employer Council issued a statement before the strike took effect, noting that OPSEU’s demands are not financially viable. The CEC’s final proposal before the strike deadline included more than $145 million dollars in wage and benefit improvements. The CEC adds that it included a 2 per cent wage increase every year of the contract, along with enhanced health care, severance, and on-call and shift premium rates.

OPSEU held a solidarity rally at the Loyalist College picket line in Belleville this morning. There are currently 150 support staff at Loyalist College. There were 200 members at the beginning of January.

Loyalist OPSEU members note that the College’s cuts include 40 full time positions, 10 part-time support staff positions and 68 full-time faculty positions, that are currently in the process of being laid off or have been let go. OPSEU claims that there is an estimated 100+ partial-load faculty that will be gone by the end of September. OPSEU noted that Loyalist is estimated to have enrolment numbers similar to 2018. In that year, there were 40 administrative staff, today there are 85 administrators.

OPSEU president JP Hornick was joined by Laura Walton the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour. Representatives from other unions were also on hand to show their support including Marg Bourgoin, the president of the Quinte Labour Council.

OPSEU and other labour unions have claimed that the Ford government plans to take post-secondary education to a private model.

OPSEU Local 420 President Tracy MacKenzie noted a recent example of a funding pivot. Mackenzie told that rally crowd that last week, Bay of Quinte MPP Tyler Allsopp announced that the Ford government would be investing $1.27 million dollars to the Elevate Plus Program to train manufacture workers. The money is coming from the Skills Development Fund. The program is delivered by the Quinte Economic Development Commission, which leases space at Loyalist College in Belleville. Loyalist supports the program alongside the Quinte Manufactures Association. MacKenzie said that Loyalist just suspended its two-year post-secondary manufacturing program.

“In other words, quality long-term educational programs are being cut in favour of short-term training with private partners. Simply because that is where the government has decided to invest taxpayers dollars now at the expense of post-secondary education in Ontario,” said MacKenzie.

She noted that the year has already been stressful for OPSEU faculty members, facing larger workloads and an uncertain future. She added that now they face intimidation, threatening e-mails, and warnings of discipline or termination for supporting colleagues.

Loyalist College grad and Belleville resident Laura Walton, noted in her speech as the president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, that good workers need fairness.

OPSEU President JP Hornick added that colleges need to be in place to serve small communities like Belleville. Hornick was at Loyalist on the first day of classes to support local faculty and students.

They led a group of people inside Loyalist College after the rally, to address their concerns outside the President’s Office.

Speaking to 91X after the rally, Local 421 President Tim Prewer confirmed that they are now delaying vehicles heading into the College, which was not the case at the start. He noted that they are delaying vehicles to the point where OPSEU members can approach drivers to chat briefly and hand out pamphlets. Prewer stressed that they are not forcing people to engage. He added that most people are interested and they have not had any safety issues.

Striking support staff at Loyalist College arrived on Friday, the second day of the strike, to find that the back half of the P9 parking lot has been blocked off with concrete barriers. The large parking lot is for visitors and students and one of two closest to the front of the College. The parking lot was fully open before the strike. Loyalist College had left that parking lot fully open in previous labour disruptions. Prewer said that members did not receive any notification before they arrived on Friday to find a reduced parking lot. Members are parking in the other general parking lot and at this time have not been ticketed or towed.

Prewer noted that the College has threatened to tow and ticket member vehicles, and put up no trespass notices. Prewer concluded noting that the College is ramping up the pressure.

91X has reached out to Loyalist College management team, who have provided the following statement.

“Loyalist Colleges respects the collective bargaining process and the legal right of Full-Time Support Staff to strike. Faculty, however, are not in a legal strike position under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act and are expected to continue teaching and supporting students as usual. Our communications have been focused on clarifying these legal requirements and ensuring faculty understand their obligations. Our priority remains on supporting our students and maintaining respectful, safe operations during this period.”

Separately, the College Employer Council has issued a statement this afternoon adding that “CEC continues to believe that the only path forward is for OPSEU’s full-time support staff bargaining team to drop its demands that colleges can never accept, or proceed to arbitration.”