Yesterday, Full-time College Support workers and allies descended upon college campuses across the province for a coordinated, ALL OUT action. Thousands of workers used their collective strength to send a strong message to the College Employer Council and College Presidents: “We demand a deal that protects jobs and student supports.”This moment signified a shift in power, showing the true power of solidarity in the fight for the future of student supports and Ontario’s colleges. The action shuttered classes at multiple colleges and caught the interest of the province-wide media, with headlines showcasing the power of the picket lines across Ontario.
Standout Headlines
Classes cancelled at 2 Ontario college campuses amid support workers’ strike | Globalnews.caSt. Clair College cancels Thursday classes at south Windsor campus due to escalated strike | CBC NewsFanshawe College cites strike as fall convocation postponed | London Free PressRallies held at Georgian College campus in Orillia as workers remain on strike | CTV NewsPolice warn of traffic delays near College Boreal and Cambrian College – Sudbury NewsStriking workers rally at Mohawk College and other Ontario campuses after latest talks break down | CBC NewsStriking college support workers rally in Toronto after negotiations hit a snag | CBC NewsAlgonquin College postpones upcoming events due to strike | 96.1 Renfrew TodaySt. Clair College cancels classes as strikers picket Windsor campus | Windsor StarCommunity rallies against ‘heartbreaking’ Orillia campus closure (12 photos) – Barrie NewsOntario college support workers up strike action after talks break down | CHCHON colleges suspend activities as workers escalate strike action – Academica GroupSolidarity parade makes some noise in downtown Timmins | Sault This WeekFrustration mounts as strike continuesVoices on the Lines
“We’re facing mass layoffs across the college system and that has been told as our number one demand and our colleges and our college presidents are refusing to have any dialogue on anything that protects jobs. What they’re offering is things that will lessen the impact when you’re actually laid off, but you have to lose your job in order to access anything they’re offering.”
-Shelley Gartshore, President – Local 124, Lambton College“Standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with colleagues from other colleges, community members, and our own campus as we bussed everybody in today because we have been working for months to try and get a negotiated contract for our full-time support staff, and the college keeps walking away from the table. Twice now they’ve walked away from the table.”
-Angela Foster, President- Local 349, Georgian College“Anything that’s not teaching or managing is our work. The whole lifespan of what is required in colleges is done by us.”
-Christine Kelsey, President – Local 416, Algonquin College“It is really wonderful to talk to students … about how important this system is and how important it is for us to make sure that it continues to exist for them. If we didn’t have college educations, my family would still be living in poverty.”
-Susan Lau, President – local 241, Mohawk College“They’re cutting support staff who guide students when they have a mental health crisis. They’re cutting the people who keep labs running, who maintain safe campuses, who help students register, graduate and succeed. They’re the very foundation of what makes a college a community. They eliminate jobs that feed families, that pay mortgages, that keep small businesses alive. They turn thriving local economies into ghost towns. That is what’s at stake, this is what we’re fighting for. We’ve bargained in good faith. We’ve removed every so-called poison pill. We’ve sent proposal after proposal across the table and still the employer refuses to protect a single job. That’s not negotiation, that’s sabotage”
-Tim Piraino, President – Local 612, Sault College“We’re already seeing that. Prior to going on strike, with the cutbacks that we’ve had at St. Clair College, the students are just not the main focus and, unfortunately, they should be the main focus.”
-Justin Fox, Local 137, St. Clair College“I have a learning disability, and because it’s a small college, it really helps me stay focused. If it leaves, then I have no other colleges to go to promote my early childhood education. It’s very heartbreaking because I am a resident, so I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
-Grace Wootton, Early Childhood Education Student, Georgian College, Orillia Campus“I think it’s very important when looking at cuts that this college is making. I’m paying two grand a semester, and all of a sudden it’s being cut, and I now would have to move colleges, which is 30 minutes from my house, just to finish my education.”
-Shelby Glionna-Woolman, Student, Georgian College, Orillia Campus“The people are rallying, some support workers and some volunteers from students and other teachers, to show solidarity with the Georgian students that are really, who without any notice whatsoever, we’re told that their campus is shutting down,”
-Matthew Mccolm, Student, Georgian College
