Part-Time Support Staff Bargaining Update: We Deserve More in 2024

On September 11, 2024, your College Support Staff Part-Time Bargaining Team was back at the table with the Employer. Five months after presenting our original monetary proposal, we finally received a written response from the employer’s team. While we are happy to see movement at the table – an indication of the employer’s desire to move forward – some of their proposals continue to fall short of key priorities.

We were particularly surprised to see language tabled that would be detrimental to student workers, especially after many months of conversations about the significance of student work at the Colleges. Since our first meeting with the employer in January, we have emphasized the importance of better pay for minimum wage workers – yet based on the employer’s proposal, their vision for workers appears to be the opposite.

We know part-timers are eager to hear news on paid sick days. The employer’s latest proposal clearly ignores the extensive conversations that have taken place across Ontario around the importance of sick days for all college employees. Over the last several months, the Bargaining Team traveled to meet part-timers across the province. At every College, we’ve heard directly from you on the importance of paid sick days.

Illness does not discriminate based on classification. Part-timers deserve paid sick days, instead of losing pay and falling further behind on the cost of living. Years after a global pandemic, we can’t afford to wait. Paid sick days for all part-time support staff, not only regular part-time (RPT) classifications, remains a key priority.

Throughout the bargaining process, we have continued to emphasize the importance of making meaningful changes to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion language, including changes to Bereavement Leave language to include “chosen family,” and adding a new article on Religious/Cultural Leave which would allow support staff from all religions and cultures to celebrate their holidays.

These changes, significant to members across the province, would not come at a significant cost or burden to the employer. All the same, we’ve received immense pushback on even these reasonable proposals – displaying a lack of commitment to EDI on the employer’s part, despite all Colleges naming EDI and Indigenisation as priority areas in their Strategic Plans. Workers need meaningful action, not just platitudes: our proposals are an opportunity for the Colleges to put their EDI priorities in practice.

Your Bargaining Team is busy discussing next steps for this bargaining round – watch your email for more details, which we will share with you as soon as available.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about bargaining, you can email caatsptbargainingteam@gmail.com.