Strike begins war of words between Conestoga College and faculty

Faculty at 24 Ontario colleges are on strike, affecting more than 500,000 students.

The College Employer Council, which bargains for the colleges, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union rejected its latest contract proposal.

Employer council spokeswoman Sonia Del Missier says the strike is completely unnecessary.

She says management was offering terms that were as good or better than recent settlements with teachers, college support staff, hospital professionals, and Ontario public servants.

The union had set a strike deadline at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

The union presented a new offer Saturday night that called for the number of full time faculty to match the number of faculty members on contract.

But Conestoga College President John Tibbits disputes those claims from the union.

“In every program we have to have some part timers. But when I tell you that 68 per cent of the full time teaching hours are taught by full time professors thats the facts. Not the nonsense being spewed by the union president.”

The College Employer Council had complained last week that union demands for staffing ratios and wage increases would add more than $1 billion in costs over three years.

Lana-Lee Hardacre President of OPSEU at Conestoga College says this strike comes down to a college system in desperate need of repair.

“This about the fact that the college system is broken and they are using precarious work to save money.”

Tibbits was quick to fire back, saying Conestoga has hired 107 full time faculty in the last 5 years.

“I would ask Lana Lee to stop drinking the Kool-Aid from head office and start listening to the members locally.”

When it comes to contract faculty, Hardacre says it is the students who suffer the most.

“You have contract workers who cannot stay after class to help the students, then they are not getting what they should be getting out of their college education.”

The strike involves more than 12,000 professors, instructors, counsellors, and librarians.

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