THUNDER BAY — The spokesperson for the union representing full-time faculty at Confederation College says she hopes the college avoids "a knee-jerk reaction" that results in job cuts related to the suspension of 11 programs.
Rebecca Ward, president of OPSEU local 732, spoke out for the first time Tuesday regarding the college's announcement last week.
"It is a bit alarming to us that we now have 11 programs with at least two people, in some cases four people, attached to each of these program areas that we now have to look at with the employment stability committee that we have with the college to encourage it to be very creative to prevent job loss in these situations."
OPSEU represents 153 full-time faculty.
Ward said that number has remained relatively static for 15 years, but the college also employs about 400 instructors on contract.
"So what's troubling for us is that we are now in a position of the risk of job loss when in fact there has been no hiring in any capacity for full-time faculty for 15 years."
She said the union has been trying to have a dialogue with management since November regarding enrolment and the financial instability the college has indicated it's currently experiencing.
"One of our levers in that process is really forcing the college to disclose with us their financial situation, and pushing them to look at budgetary decisions. For example, if you were to look at the size of the managerial team over the last 10 years, you will see that there are at least six or seven new positions."
Ward said OPSEU will be asking the college to consider budgetary measures that could be taken to prevent job losses, but at this point "all they're talking to us about is potential reductions in full-time faculty teaching."
To date, there's been no notice of job cuts.
"We'll continue to work closely with our faculty and support staff unions to mitigate the impact of these program suspensions," said Aaron Skillen, vice-president/academic at Confederation.
"We have not announced any layoffs related to these suspensions. Our focus remains on providing quality education to every student while balancing the long-term sustainability here at Confederation College."
Skillen acknowledged at last week's news conference that this is a "very stressful" time for the faculty, but said "We continue to make sure we make this as smooth as possible, and be as kind and respectful as possible through this process."
Multiple other Ontario colleges have announced program cuts as well as job cuts as a result of the cap on international student permits imposed last year by the federal government.
Ward holds out hope the decline in foreign student enrolment is only temporary.
"Our research tells us that by 2027 the international enrolment trends will return to 2021 levels, which were quite healthy...Our hope is to convince the college this is a temporary situation...and that they need to work with us here and not have a knee-jerk reaction."
She added, though, that if faculty jobs are to be cut, the college must also look at "getting rid of administrators."
