Ontario college strike averted

It’s official, Ontario college faculty will not strike this semester.  A 51.45 per cent majority ruling was tallied Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this month, teachers from the province’s 24 colleges voted in favour of continuing the school year without any stoppages.  Wednesday’s count included mail-in ballots that were received this past week.

Of about 9000 faculty members, 4473 voted to accept and 4221 voted to reject the offer, according to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

Tyler Charlebois, director of advocacy of the College Student Alliance, said most of the terms in the agreement won’t come around until the fall.

“Faculty has received some of the things agreed upon,” Charlebois said.

Members are getting paid at an increase of 1.75 per cent. In the new semester, a modified workload will be formulated.

The final offer accepted by the teachers also includes a 5.9 per cent salary increase over the next three years.

Negotiations between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the colleges took over nine months.

According to Charlebois, negotiations take “way too long,” and are postponed until crunch time.

A strike would have delayed hopeful Centennial students from graduating this semester.  They would have had to complete their classes next fall.

“It’s important that students are getting the education they’re paying for in a timely fashion,” said Charlebois.

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College Student Alliance news release
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2010/24/c4540.html

Ontario Public Service Employees Union release
http://www.opseu.org/news/press2010/feb-24-2010.htm


About this article

By: Ryan Jhagroo/Toronto Observer
Posted: Feb 25 2010 7:29 am
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