Two Ontario colleges say they had to cancel some of their classes and on-campus activities Thursday as striking support staff joined rallies at several colleges across the province.
Mohawk College says classes and activities are cancelled for the day at its Fennell campus in Hamilton and employees are working from home, while its other campuses remain open.
St. Clair College says classes at its south Windsor campus are also cancelled “out of an abundance of caution and safety.”
Meanwhile, Algonquin College has warned that road access to its Ottawa campus may be blocked or delayed due to support staff picketing.
The 10,000 full-time college support staff, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, have been on strike since Sept. 11 and are demanding better wages, benefits, and job security.
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The union said earlier this week that talks broke down after the employer and college presidents “declared an impasse” over job security language.
OPSEU says job security remains a critical concern amid campus closures and layoffs in the college sector.
The College Employer Council, which represents Ontario’s 24 publicly funded colleges, said this week it was frustrated after the union’s bargaining team “abruptly reversed course during mediation talks, derailing progress.”
The council said it offered improvements to wages, on-call pay and bereavement leave, among other things.
Colleges in Ontario have been increasingly relying on tuition from international students for several years due to low levels of provincial government funding and a years-long tuition freeze, and have been struggling since the federal government enacted a lower cap on international students.
The College Employer Council has stated that the union’s demands would expose colleges to more than $900 million in additional costs, although the union disputes that figure.
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