Don't Do It!

With such an important decision being made today, I figured it was about time I talk about the potential College Strike. Bargaining began in June of last year; both sides met throughout the summer then took September off as a recess. In October and November bargaining continued without success. Mid December a date was chosen for the province wide academic strike vote. Before the holidays the parties tried to resolve the issue, but were still unable to reach an agreement. On January 13th 57.03% of Ontario’s full-time academic staff voted in favour of a strike mandate and gave the union the ability to pull them off the job if negotiations didn’t progress in their favour. Parties met once again from January 19th to 21st, little progress was made and a four day recess gave both sides time to think. On January 28th OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) were given the college’s final offer, according to the Mediator, OPSEU will notify colleges today of their decision.

I’ve been trying to ignore the entire situation in hopes that it would all be resolved without disrupting my studies. Unfortunately, things are not looking as good as I had hoped. After much bargaining it seems that very little progress has been made and that OPSEU wants a strike.

If there is a short strike, things will most likely be fine and we will be able to finish our semester with minor disruption. Should the strike last long enough to cost us our semester, I am very unsure of what my program will do. Each of the three main teachers teach one year, part time teachers teach us specific courses and work within the various years. If we have to re-take second semester next year, we will be unable to accommodate any new students as each teacher would be busy with their current class. If this happens an entire year will be spent trying to reverse the damage, not a pretty picture. Here’s hoping tomorrows news is in favour of the students wishes.

collegestrike.com