College Full-time Support Staff Bargaining Update #18: The employer is getting nervous about the power we’re building.
September 6, 2025
We’re living in a very different Ontario than 10 years ago. We’re also bargaining in a very different landscape today, than just a few months ago.Yesterday, you should have received a message from JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO, encouraging members to turn out to our Bargaining Town Halls this coming Monday.But their message primarily outlines new research which challenges the narrative we’ve been fed about our college system.Our colleges aren’t just underfunded. They’re being systematically defunded, while funds are diverted to a privatized, training ecosystem.The implications are dire: all signs point to an accelerated agenda to sell-off our public education system.It’s why we’re seeing the employer double down so hard against our demand for a moratorium on campus closures and mergers. It’s not because they block a “pathway” to a deal this employer wasn’t willing to reach before they were on the table.It’s because the mergers and closures are coming. They’re coming for our campuses hollowed out by the slow bleed of services – whether it be our library techs being replaced by “book vending machines” – or support staff teams cut entirely. They’re coming for our campuses in the north that have already been cut back to the point where only 40, 20, 10 students are left due to program closuresWe are the college community – students, support staff, and faculty together. When you strip that away, all you’re left with real estate – and under Ford’s scheme, there won’t be any shortages of buyers.We’re back at the table with the employer this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, September 9th through 10th. There are many bargaining proposals that remain that leave us far from the employer: they are refusing language like no contracting out, limits to job displacement because of AI, preventing managers from doing support staff work, refusing reasonable benefit improvements while tabling letters that signal they will try and cut our benefits plan in the future in the name of “sustainability”, and more.We’re ready to bargain a deal that puts something concrete about job security in front of members. We also need to think about what will ensure we have jobs to come back to.The power we build determines what becomes possible to win. And our peak leverage right now is before our midnight deadline.Until midnight on September 11th, we have another option: to show this employer what’s in our arsenal and force them to blink.That’s why it matters how we turn out for the September 10th lunch time practice pickets – it’s not just about rolling out on Day 0, so that we can have a smooth potential Day 1. It’s about harnessing our collective power in the moment it matters most.And it’s because by midnight on the 11th, we might not have any other option.So sign up for the September 10th Practice Pickets! Nothing about this bargaining round, or this political moment, is simple. But we don’t choose when the moment finds us – we can only decide how we meet the moment.College graduates have the lowest unemployment of any education outcome in the province, beating even university graduates in recent years. And with 700,000 skilled trades workers set to retire in the next 5 years, the private programs Ford is catering to simply won’t be able to meet the demand.We know our system is worth fighting for, as are our jobs that support students in succeeding – and we’ve seen in the last few days alone that the public will be on side.With, or without, a deal by midnight on the 11th – that fight isn’t ending anytime soon.What we do in this next stretch between today and Wednesday matters critically – so make sure you join us at one of our upcoming Bargaining Town Halls on Monday, September 8:Register for Zoom link – 12 p.m. (noon)
Register for Zoom link – 5 p.m.And before you go! Ensure your information is up to date in our system, including direct deposit for strike pay:Update your info on the OPSEU/SEFPO member portal!As always, you can read the latest bargaining updates on CollegeSupportFT.org.Solidarity,Your College Support Full-Time Bargaining Team:Christine Kelsey, Chair – Local 416, Algonquin College
Shelley Gartshore, Vice-Chair – Local 124, Lambton College
Veronica Attard – Local 416, Algonquin College
Dan Brisson – Local 672, Collège Boréal
Bob Holder – Local 243, Niagara College
Dana Leaman – Local 241, Mohawk College
Xiaoyan Wang– Local 561, Seneca College