In these two weeks since the strike began, member voices from picket lines across the province have dominated the news coverage. College Support workers have been effectively sharing their stories and perspectives in the media and driving their message home – “we are fighting for the future of student supports and public education!”Below are some stand-out quotes and headlines that show the strong coverage this collective fight is receiving with worker voices at the forefront!
Standout Headlines
‘No more cuts’: Union rally backs striking support staff at Georgian – Orillia News‘This is our fight’: Local unions support striking college workers – Sault Ste. Marie NewsFanshawe college workers strike in London – CTV NewsUnion locals rallied today to support Canadore’s OPSEU strike – North Bay NewsUnion striking to defend college education in Ontario | Elliot Lake StandardSt. Lawrence College students show support of striking workers | YGK News – Your Kingston, Your NewsNDP show solidarity with college workers on strike in Sudbury – Sudbury NewsOp/Ed –Colleges Work Because Support Staff Do – Seaway NewsAlgonquin College strike: Students feeling effects – CTV NewsMember Voices on the Lines
“It’s not about money. It’s about keeping the lights on. It’s keeping the jobs in the community. It’s preventing Doug Ford to continue to defund our public education.”
-Trevor Midwinter, Local 349, Georgian College“I stood with my father on a picket line 40 years ago. Today, I stand with my colleagues for the same cause: protecting good jobs, defending our students, and preserving public education in this province.”
-Christopher J. Duncanson-Hales, Local 658, Canadore College“Georgian College president Kevin Weaver always talks about an unrivalled student experience, but if you have less of us, with less hours, how are we supposed to live up to that?”
-Anita Giffen, Local 349, Georgian College“The public college system is at a turning point or perhaps even at a crisis state. We’ve seen mammoth workforce reductions across the province and quite frankly support staff have borne the brunt of those reductions”
-Adam Rayfield, President, Local 109, Fanshawe College“We hold the line, we show up, we demand better — not just for ourselves, but for every student who deserves a publicly-funded, publicly-accountable education. This is our fight and we are not backing down.”
-Tim Piraino, President, Local 612, Sault College “We want to make sure that our students have good quality education so that they can go out into the community and provide safe, quality and competent care”
-Jaymie Tyrer, Local 243, Niagara College” This is about crucial job security in an industry that is seeing record job hemorrhaging and losses across the board. Even here at Canadore, we saw the loss of our addiction centre that was being built on Lakeshore. We saw the loss of our health centre, which was contracted out to a company called Canada Shield.”
-Brandon Davis, President, Local 658, Canadore College Messages of Solidarity and Support
SLC students join staff picket lines – Cornwall Standard – Print Edition“I probably wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have the supports that I did, because I had a lot of mental health struggles and a lot of things that directly impacted my ability to perform and succeed in my first and second semester.”
-Jordyn Hamilton, second-year computer programming and analysis student, St. Lawrence College “We are feeling the cuts that have already been made, we’re already missing support staff and academic services. “We need every person that the school still has left – the more cuts that happen, the less of a school we’re going to have.”
-Emma Coughlin, third-year nursing student, St. Lawrence College in Brockville“A lot of people have lost their jobs and I don’t want to see that. “We lost the (staff) help in our library, our bookstore, our test centre, all of the (staff) who support accommodations. We lost the (in-person) mental health support, which is especially important when you’re in nursing school, or really, any program for that matter.”
-Bridget Mathurin, third-year nursing student, St. Lawrence College“We kind of seen it at the end of last (semester) when everything was slowly starting to shift. Just hearing students in the hallways saying there was a delay in hearing back (about certain questions,” she said. “I don’t think people realized the impact support staff had on students and how they helped students achieve what they are able to in school.”
-Julianne Brunet, second-year business administration student, St. Lawrence CollegeOntario colleges, support staff to resume talks Friday
“It’s been a really stressful time for our families, but it’s really important to me to show support for our educators. Going on strike is a tough decision to have to make and we are in this together. For me, if going on strike is what’s needed for them to keep providing the quality care for my kids (and the community) … then I’m behind it 100 per cent.”
-Brynne Sinclair-Waters, Toronto parent, George Brown DaycareThunder Bay area unions rally province for a fair deal – Fort Frances Times
“So, the faculty are standing here today in full support of this action which is essentially trying to insist that the College’s address the issues before them around job security, if there’s no jobs left for support staff there’s nothing left for our students and we care deeply about our students we are standing shoulder to shoulder as unionized activists to insist that colleges address this crisis,”
-Rebecca Ward, OPSEU/SEFPO Local 732 Faculty President, Confederation College2 weeks into Conestoga College strike, employer says union demands are ‘unreasonable’ | CBC News
“We are all in this together. This is a very critical moment for us.”
-Leopold Koff,
OPSEU/SEFPO Local 237 Faculty President, Conestoga College
