We’ve nearly hit two weeks on the picket line, and our leverage is breaking new ground. Thanks to you and your co-workers, holding the line day after day, we are now at over 80% participation on the lines – a number that is only growing.
We need to stay strong. The colleges are starting to feel the pain of not having qualified staff to do the work – and we are nearing that crucial tipping point.
The employer’s team – the College Employer Council (CEC) and its CEO, Graham Lloyd – know this. It’s why they’re also escalating efforts to undermine our strike.
We want to get back to work supporting students, and so we’ve invited Graham Lloyd and the CEC back to the table to continue negotiations though the Ministry of Labour – Dispute Resolution Services – in-person.
We’re ready to move forward – we simply ask that they come back to the table to do it.
Graham Lloyd is telling the media things they never communicated across the table during negotiations or since. Instead of meeting with us to discuss concerns with our proposals, Lloyd is on a destructive PR tour making sure we don’t reach a deal.
He is undermining our legal right to fair and transparent negotiations.
Most recently, Lloyd was on CP24 openly discussing impending mergers of college campuses that he has not disclosed with us, workers on the frontlines.
We asked for transparency in our negotiations, and to know what Graham Lloyd and the CEC are planning to do with the colleges. We knew they had a plan to close campuses and privatize, something Lloyd is now confirming through the media.
They would not tell us these plans without a gag order. We refused to sign it because our members need to know the truth.
The employer has the obligation to disclose restructuring plans which would hugely affect our members over the length of the collective agreement we are actively negotiating.
We believe you, as well as the public, deserve to know about these plans. Just like we deserved to know about the 10,000 job cuts, one of the largest lay-offs in provincial history – which Graham Lloyd never intended to disclose either.
And on top of it all, Graham Lloyd is lying.
He is lying when he says that he has communicated with the union about all our proposals, when we’re learning about the employer’s position at the same time the public does, in the news.
He is lying when he says they’ve offered our members job security. Enhanced severance does not save jobs.
He is lying when he says we wanted to go on strike from the get-go. We were at the table until midnight of the strike deadline trying to negotiate a settlement, while the employer walked away at 4 p.m.
He is lying about contracting out protections – we do not have language which ensures bargaining unit work stays in-house.
He is lying about management not doing support staff work, something we see clearly happening in the workplace.
Lloyd is grasping at straws to justify his lies – he’s leaning on the example of managers “turning off lights” that controlled by automatic sensors in most of our workplaces.
If Lloyd has better language in mind, we’d love to see counter proposals – at the bargaining table.
We, just like you, are on strike, forgoing pay to fight for a better future. That’s why we’re calling the employer back to the table – let’s bring in a Ministry of Labour-appointed mediator to help the parties continue conversations and find the path to a fair settlement.
But Graham Lloyd would rather get on the news and admit to plans for restructuring.
If Lloyd believes “poison pills” related to plans for further college cuts need to come off the table – then just tell us the truth.
We know these pills are “poison” to the employer because they want free reign to continue to hack away at student services.
So tell us what’s really on the table – and let workers, and the public, draw their own conclusions.
As always, you can read the latest bargaining updates on CollegeSupportFT.org.
Solidarity,
Your College Support Full-Time Bargaining Team:
Christine Kelsey, Chair – Local 416, Algonquin College
Shelley Gartshore, Vice-Chair – Local 124, Lambton College
Veronica Attard – Local 416, Algonquin College
Dan Brisson – Local 672, Collège Boréal
Bob Holder – Local 243, Niagara College
Dana Leaman – Local 241, Mohawk College
Xiaoyan Wang– Local 561, Seneca College
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