Ontario’s college support workers held rallies at several colleges across the province on Thursday, as the ongoing strike is about to enter its fourth week.
Around 400 people gathered at Humber College’s North Campus, and Toronto police warned drivers to expect “extreme delays” in the area during the demonstration. Humber College Boulevard was closed between Highway 27 and Humberline Drive.
Talks between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents 10,000 full-time support staff at Ontario’s public colleges, and the College Employer Council (CEC) broke down earlier this week.
“Despite three days of mediation, talks broke down again on Monday, when the employer and College Presidents declared an impasse after refusing any job security language that would clear the path to a settlement and end the strike,” the union stated in a release on Thursday.
“The strike, now entering its fourth week, comes amidst one of the largest mass layoffs in the province’s history where 10,000 college workers have already been laid off, hundreds of programs have been suspended or cancelled, and new campus closures announced as recently as last Friday.”
Elsewhere in the province, Mohawk College said classes and activities were cancelled for the day at its Fennell campus in Hamilton and employees were working from home, while its other campuses remained open.
St. Clair College said classes at its south Windsor campus were also cancelled “out of an abundance of caution and safety.”
A rally was also held at Georgian College’s Orillia Campus. Last week, the college announced it is closing its campuses in Orillia and Muskoka and merging them into the Barrie campus by next fall.
The CEC, which represents Ontario’s 24 publicly funded colleges, said this week it was frustrated after the union’s bargaining team “abruptly reversed course during mediation talks, derailing progress.” The council said it offered improvements to wages, on-call pay and bereavement leave, among other things.
OPSEU first hit the picket lines on Sept. 11, demanding better wages, job security, and more for full-time support staff at the province’s colleges.