OPSEU hopes to get back to the bargaining table with strike mandate

Ontario college support workers will know if they have a mandate to strike by 9 p.m. Thursday.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union represented workers’ contract ends Aug. 31 and OPSEU Local 731 president Richard Belleau said he hopes the employer will come to the table and be serious.

“Right now the major issues are the concessionary demands by the employer,” he said. “There’s a significant attack on our collective agreement with their demands.”

Belleau said the employer is asking for a two-tier wage system, reducing some existing benefits, some erosion of their rights to job security and changing work hours.

College support staff in Ontario have only gone on strike once before in 1979. Belleau said they’ve been able to negotiate at the table before and believes they can do it again.

“We are looking for a mandate from our membership to indicate the seriousness of the negotiations that are going on at the table right now,” he said.

There are 8,000 college support staff members in the province and 270 in Thunder Bay. They are responsible for a variety of jobs including registration, financial aid and maintenance – almost everything except academic or administrative positions.

“We do every activity,” Belleau said. “We believe if we were to withdraw our services, it would have a serious impact on the college’s ability to service the students. We are concerned about the students. We hope to come to an agreement prior to Aug. 31.”

The polls close at 5 p.m. Thursday.