College Full-time Support Staff Bargaining Update #21: Our lives are not collateral – we’re ramping up to win.
September 18, 2025
We’re closing off week one of our first strike in fourteen years, and the community support has been nothing short of flooring. We know our communities are with us – because this fight touches all of us.The college system has been hemorrhaging jobs long before bargaining began. It would be out of touch not to expect job security to be at the forefront of this round.We want concrete dates to continue those conversations at the table. But instead of bargaining with us, the employer is running to the media to announce that two “poison pills” have grown to four demands that the union “must drop.” That’s not bargaining. That’s holding negotiations hostage. Our asks are not holding up the process – the employer is. Now, they’re taking aim at our other job security proposals: including protections against contracting out – which they lie to say exist, as if services are not contracted out across all 24 colleges – and management doing support staff work, which they falsely allege is not happening.These lies are a public stunt to sow division. The employer will continue to shift the goalpost, because they’re not interested in bargaining. If they were serious that removing “poison pills” would lead to a deal, they would have met with us to disclose what they can offer on job security – instead of walking away from the table.It is a classic employer tactic to justify their lack of response to our last pass because it contains “unreasonable” proposals or “non-starters.” We see it at every bargaining table.It’s why ramping up our lines, and pulling in community, is crucial. If the employer senses that their ploy is working, they will feel justified in dragging out this strike so that they can give us nothing, in return for us giving up everything. The existence of our college system is in question. Whether we like it or not, it affects bargaining now and in future rounds. Every passing week since we began bargaining, we’ve had to face the difficult reality that our initial proposals did not fully address a rapidly evolving situation – especially as thousands upon thousands of members told us that they feared about the future of their work. And the reality is – our jobs are on the line.What we can bargain and win today will very much determine what we have left to bargain for and protect in the future. Our proposals matter. They matter to the public – who care about keeping access to college education in our communities. But beyond community support, don’t each of us want to know that the place we work at today will be around tomorrow?This employer has an obligation to bargain in good faith – and that means advising the union of their plans for restructuring. Yet they’ve refused to tell us unless we sign a legally binding agreement to not to inform you.
If more jobs will disappear during the life of the contract we’re negotiating, let alone full-scale closures of campuses, isn’t that something we should try to fight today while we are still bargaining?If campus closures/mergers are not coming, then tell us. They’re refusing to do so, or tie their hands, because closures/mergers are coming – and students and workers alike need the employer and our colleges to come clean about what’s coming.Hasn’t the employer done enough damage? They know the revenue and enrollment projections and have shown us they’re willing to cut to the bone – and they have. Is it really unreasonable to want to know if our futures are in jeopardy? Is it really unreasonable to demand that enough is enough?The jobs we hold and the services we provide today are worth protecting – especially when there’s more than enough to trim from the top.We have never had public support, or attention on the issue, like this before. The employer, and the Ford government, are banking on us piping down and the public eye turning away.When we doubt each other, we give them power – and the employer will weaponize that power against us to prolong the strike.We won’t let that happen. Our futures are worth fighting for. We are worth fighting for. We know it’s not easy – but with what’s happening in our college system, this may be the most important fight of our lives. And it’s a fight we can – and will – win.The path is clear. We win by standing together – across our lines, across our campuses, across our communities, and across Ontario. So join us at next Strike Town Hall is THIS Friday, September 19 at 7 p.m.