College Worker Knows the Importance of a Good Job

We thank all colllege staff who have taken the time to share their thoughts on the strike with the public. As you will see below we have staff who only recently joined OPSEU and have never been unionized. As the comment below points out, the stability of a full-time job is worth fighting for.

“I am currently on strike in the OPSEU support workers strike. Ironically I was a student in college during the last college support workers strike in 1979. During my entire career over 28 years now I have never been involved in a union. Last year after being layed off from my second employer in 28 years I was unemployed for just a few days less than a year.

Last year I was hired full time by the college and joined the union. What the union is striking for is to preserve good full time jobs with benefits for todays students that are learning in my Laboratories. College support workers are not militant unionists but we all know the importance of a good full time job to raise a family and live a normal life. That is what I want for my students when they graduate and the faculty union supports that as well even though their contract is still valid. They will be fighting for the same issues when their contract negotiations begin.”

OPSEU College Staff

Originally posted as a response to article on CBC.ca – Sept. 13, 2011

Support Staff – Skilled Workers who Contribute Significantly to Student Success

As the strike continues, we wanted to take this opportunity as the authors of this blog to share our own thoughts on the work we do for students.

We know students are waiting for the dispute to be resolved so that they can get the support they rely on everyday. It is our hope that students will take time to consider all of the information out there about the strike and the issues from OPSEU and the College Council.

We know this strike is causing significant challenges for you students not only within your academics but also in regards to your personal lives. We regret the impact this strike is having and can only ask for your patience as we continue to fight for an equitable deal. It has been 32 years since our last strike. We would not be on the lines if it was not important for our jobs as well as your future.

It is our hope that you already recognize how important our work is to your success as you go through college and prepare to enter the labour market. We are your student liaisons, financial advisors, career advisors, nurses, disability advisors, IT support, adaptive technologists, facilities, registration officers, admissions liaisons and more. The work we do ensures you select the right courses, are in the right program for your chosen career, find part time work while at school, receive financial aid, receive disability supports, ensures your classrooms are heated/air conditioned, can access IT support for your course work, have somewhere on campus to go when you are ill and more.

Support staff are skilled workers with college diplomas, undergraduate and graduate degrees. Our work for you can be complex with serious implications if not done well – we draw on our significant and varied skill sets everyday. Many of us entered the field because of our belief in the importance of community colleges and the opportunities they can provide. We want to ensure colleges are able to provide you with the best possible support and that means being able to recruit talented and well-trained workers. Colleges will only be able to recruit skilled workers if we are offering full-time work with good wages and benefits that reflect the skills we use everyday to provide superior support for the next generation of Ontario’s skilled workers.

It is our hope that this strike will not only end soon but also improve your chances of being successful in the labour market – providing more opportunities for good jobs with good benefits when you graduate. Please know that we are fighting not just for us – we also fighting for the best services students today and the best jobs for our graduates tomorrow.

OPSEU College Support Staff Member

College Workers – Educated and Providing Essential Student Support

I’m a university graduate and the majority of my colleagues have post-secondary education. We run job fairs for students and graduates, review applications and transcripts with a high degree of accuracy in order to ensure we have qualified students and a fair admissions process, disperse OSAP, bursaries and scholarships, tutor and support students in academics, we’re nurses and counselors, we run the gym, nutrition and health programs, we’re IT support staff who keep everything running behind the scenes, all systems go for staff, faculty and of course students who rely on the IT infrastructure to access timetables, book lists, important info about scholarships, OSAP, exams, projects, homework, the list goes on.

My college president earned $181,000 in 2008. His salary increased to $270,000 in 2010. Our VPA saw a $40,000 increase in salary in the same 3-year period… our VP Marketing and Communications over $20,000.

When we were without a president, the college still ran smoothly, when we’re without support staff, the place falls apart. Our president got a nearly 50% salary increase and no one batted an eye. We’ve asked for 3% a year and there’s public outcry. I don’t get it.

We’re asking for inflation and even then money is secondary to the significant and historical changes presented by our employer . An employer who won’t negotiate, in fact refuses to even come to the table, although that’s not what they’re telling the media.

We support our families, our students and our communities. But that doesn’t matter anymore because for the first time in 32 years we’ve pushed back on changes that fundamentally change the face of the workforce in this province.

OPSEU College Support Staff Member
Originally posted as a response to article on CBC.ca – Sept. 2011

College Student’s Parent Supports Union

My son just started Algonquin. I want to write to the President and express my outrage that this situation is permitted to continue by management not going back to the table. I want my son to succeed but I also want him to know that when he enters the working world he will have a fair shake at decent working conditions because of the unions that have made it so! On Algonquin’s website there is nothing but the full last offer documents from both side – bargaining in public. And there appears to be no way to get any sort of address – e-mail, fax or snail for the President. Disgusting. Please, if anyone has this information – post it daily to the CBC and tweet and facebook it!

Author Unknown – College Parent

Originally posted as a response to article on CBC.ca – Sept. 13, 2011

Students Support Striking OPSEU College Workers

A letter to the College Presidents. Student emphasizes lack of support services negatively impacting courses. Support staff needed back at work.

Dear Mr. Lovisa and fellow college presidents:

As a student of Durham College I would appreciate it if you would take the time to read this correspondence.

It was not without reservations that I walked towards the Durham College campus on September 12th, 2011. I walked because I wanted to avoid the picket line delays that might cause me to be late for writing a correspondence course midterm test, which I had arranged with a college staff member on August 30th. Last week I received a delayed response from the Continuing Education department reassuring me that yes, my exam would go ahead as scheduled despite the strike. I was left feeling that I should print off the email confirmation of the exam booking to bring along. In fact, I should have done just that because about two minutes after arriving at the exam center I was pulling up the email on the college computer to print out for the invigilator. There was no record of the midterm being booked and no midterm paper ready for me to write.

The following day I was told I could re-schedule the exam for Wednesday September 14th. On that date, I had completed only the first few questions when I began to wonder whether or not I had the correct exam paper. The questions were not on the material that I had prepared for according to the course paperwork. After approaching the invigilator we determined that I had been given the final exam for the course, not the midterm test that I had requested. I then had to wait for the correct exam to be provided and start all over again.

The colleges would like the general public to believe that this strike is barely affecting the level of service and education provided to students. As the president of Fanshawe College so eloquently stated, he feels the strike is merely comparable to a few mosquitoes flying through an open window (the fact that this metaphor was directly followed by the claim that the strikers are certainly not being compared to mosquitoes only served to drive the insult home). Although I have a hard time knowing what to believe regarding information related to the strike, one thing I know for a fact is that if it has affected me in such a significant and inconvenient way then students at Durham College, and therefore at other colleges as well, are also being affected detrimentally. In fact, at the exam time tonight there was another student who had scheduled his exam online yet his exam was not prepared for him.

Currently, I hold a full time job as well as working part-time on the weekends, generally working 6 or 7 days a week. I am working towards a diploma through Continuing Education, taking as many as five courses at once, while maintaining an average above 90%. Two months ago I paid over $1000 to register for four courses. Not including the textbooks, of course. The diploma I am working towards at Durham College is an important step for me and it is essential that I meet my goal of an expected finish date in April 2012. This strike has, and will continue to, affect me as a student. I don’t have the time to wait for every mistake to be corrected. I certainly now have no faith in my completed exam reaching its destination, being marked and recorded properly. Not to mention complications I will be likely to experience in the other four courses I am enrolled in, or the fact that I cannot book any further midterms or exams until the strike is over.

This strike is wasting the time, money and effort of myself and every other student. And for every student that has taken the time to write to their college and complain, there are countless others who are thinking the same thing. It is imperative that the colleges go back to the bargaining table as soon as possible. Students don’t deserve to endure personal hardships because of a political agenda.

Sincerely,

College Student