OPSEU College Support Staff – Important Resources in a Knowledge-Based Economy

As most people probably know by now, Colleges Ontario (representing college management) and the OPSEU union representing 8,000 college support staff have been negotiating this weekend. It is hoped negotiations will result in a resolution to the contract dispute that resulted in a work stoppage on September 1st.

There have been many issues raised during the strike which is affecting all colleges in communities across Ontario. Despite all the coverage in the media about the strike, there still appears to be a lack of understanding about our roles in supporting students and faculty. A lack of understanding of our roles and how the skills we use everyday contribute significantly to the success of Ontario’s colleges. Colleges aim to produce knowledgeable and well-skilled graduates. Well, we are valuable resources throughout the colleges that support faculty in curriculum delivery and student success.

There has been much discussion in recent years about the shift in Canada to a knowledge-based economy. The rhetoric has stressed the importance of having the right programs offered at our colleges. The goal is to make sure job seekers are appropriately qualified for the labour market as it exists today and are prepared for the shifting trends we are seeing for tomorrow.

In recent years, Ontario has even developed financing projects to assist Colleges among other areas to be able to “…support business innovation by providing them with state-of-the-art, industry-relevant research infrastructure to foster partnerships with the private sector in a specific area of institutional strategic priority” (June 2011).

A knowledge-based economy requires top notch learning institutions with faculty who have relevant industry experience, state of the art technology and state of the art buildings. We wholeheartedly acknowledge the importance of great faculty, technology and buildings. What we hope Colleges Ontario and the college presidents understand is that to run top notch institutions, colleges also require well-educated and skilled support staff. Support staff are the individuals who ensure faculty have the resources they need, the technology is supported and the buildings are operational. Support staff ensure students have the resources they need to complete program requirements whether it be financial aid for tuition, tutoring for coursework, accommodations for their disability support, mental health support, an outlet for physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle or strategies for their job search when they graduate. In short, we are instrumental in ensuring that colleges are able to contribute to a knowledge-based economy.

As we look to the future and our ever growing knowledge-based economy, college management needs to consider the importance of the resources support staff provide to faculty and students. How can colleges continue to support a knowledge-based economy without ensuring the staff providing support to both faculty and students are themselves educated and skilled? Finally, consider how colleges can ensure they continue to recruit educated and skilled support staff. The answer – ensure individuals in support staff positions have good wages and good benefits.

Authors of this blog
OPSEU College Support Staff

*Source: Ministry of Research and Innovation.

Support Staff are Valuable and Deserve a Fair Deal

The quote below is meant as a message to the College Council and management. Support staff do important work. We are only asking that our work be valued. We are only asking that as part of your succession planning, you consider how you will sustain the skilled workforce you have now and recruit new staff in the future if the wages and benefits are now equitable.

Quote from E.J. Dionne:
“Labour is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. LABOUR is the SUPERIOR of CAPITAL and DESERVES MUCH the HIGHER CONSIDERATION”.

Hoping the College Council and College Presidents Understand the Value of our Work

OPSEU college support staff are extremely encouraged that the two sides will be at the bargaining table this weekend. It is our hope that when you get to the table you will remember the valuable services provided on your campuses and the skilled staff who make the services run.

We are the staff who speak to prospective students on campus and in the community. We are the staff who promote programs, guiding students from interested to registered. We are the staff who answer inquiries about financial aid and help students find the money to attend our wonderful institutions. We are the staff who recruit and ensure international students are supported. We are the staff who ensure students are aware of the courses they need to take. We are the staff who run registration so students can pay for their courses. We are the staff who run Student Life offices and ensure students have positive experiences not only in class but outside class as well. We are the staff who ensure students struggling to meet course requirements have a place to go for tutoring and learning skills support. We are the staff who meet with students and parents of students with disabilities to ensure their needs are met while also ensuring the college is able to maintain academic integrity. We are the staff who do structural repairs and ensure that the college has heating, air conditioning and running water. We are the staff who ensure the right books are ordered so students can do their course work. We are the staff who advise students on where to find part-time jobs to pay for tuition. We are the staff who advise students on how to prepare for interviews and a successful transition into the labour market.

Throughout all of the services we provide above, many of us are on the front lines responding to the tough questions, making the tough decisions and at all times we are doing so on behalf of the College. To us, it would seem that you would want to ensure the Colleges have provided support staff with the best possible contract. A good deal will allow colleges to continue to recruit well-educated, skilled and dedicated staff as you have to date. Support staff are a group of professionals, possessing diplomas, undergraduate and graduate degrees in their field. Support staff are individuals dedicated to the students and dedicated to doing the best work possible on behalf of the College.

We trust that you will agree that the services we provide are crucial to the overall student experience. We are the staff who turn value for college tuition fees into value added. The superior services we provide contribute to students being well serviced customers – many of whom become repeat customers which only serves to increase College revenue.

We are optimistic that you will agree we are an integral and valuable part of the College teams. We further hope you will work together with our bargaining team to ensure we have good jobs today and good jobs tomorrow.

OPSEU College Support Staff
Authors of this blog

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