FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Toronto, ON) Faculty and support staff at Conestoga College are celebrating the start of a new chapter – after their relentless public pressure campaign calling for accountable leadership, workers realised their long-time demand as President John Tibbits announced his resignation, effective today.
“This win belongs to every worker, student, and neighbour that has been devastated by John Tibbits’ destructive tenure,” said Leopold Koff, President of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 237, representing faculty. “Now the adults can sit down and talk.”
“Norma McDonald Ewing, the new interim President, can start building a brighter, collaborative future through open dialogue with union leaders and the student association,” echoed Vikki Poirier, President of OPSEU/SEFPO Local 238, representing support staff. “To undo Tibbits’ legacy of ruin, we need to be directly involved in reform and the search for new leadership.”
Issues of transparency have been recently raised around Conestoga College’s Board of Governors, ranked lowest amongst the colleges by virtue of not publishing its operating bylaw or other board policies, and difficult-to-access meeting schedules and minutes.
According to the union, revising these approaches and disclosure of the college’s full financial picture will inspire faith in new leadership.
“The international disaster created by John Tibbits is the natural consequence of what happens when our community colleges stop being accountable to communities and taxpayers,” said JP Hornick, OPSEU/SEFPO President. “We can govern colleges with an eye towards ensuring student, worker, industry, and community voices have a seat at the table.”
Union leaders say that recent cuts at the college, including another 400 lay-offs announced at the end of December, were made without foresight and will ensure some courses are just not viable to deliver.
“We’d like to see interim leadership sit down with stakeholders and review some of these decisions,” said Poirier. “There’s room to reverse course and explore alternate solutions.”
While John Tibbits profited–raking in a 29 per cent salary raise in 2024 for annual earnings of $636,102–Conestoga College remains a centerpiece in concerns across Canadian post-secondary education. The highest job losses and program closures in the country are concentrated in Ontario institutions, with Conestoga College topping the list.
“We hope this change in order will rectify Tibbits’ outlandish salary, which was one of our recommendations to the college alongside his resignation,” said Koff. “The public ought to know what his resignation will cost us, too – another million dollar pay-out to get him through the door?”
“We’re hearing industry leaders in the region are concerned that these lay-offs will bring a massive labour shortage to their sector, including the construction trades,” said Hornick. “That is not an economically viable future: so let’s chart a course that is, responsive to community needs.”