It’s official – full-time college support staff have voted 89% to ratify a new, three-year contract. Our ratification vote was historic, with over 75% of the division participating – that’s 7,799 members.
This contract was only made possible through five long, difficult weeks on strike. Before we hit the picket lines, we faced an employer refusing dialogue on our top-line priorities and pushing concessions on the table.
Through collective action, we were able to eliminate all concessions and work towards an agreement that takes us forward, so that we can stay the course on our fight to protect our public college system.
Our new agreement is effective until August 31, 2028, and includes: increases to on-call rates and shift premiums that have remained stagnant for nearly two decades; a wage increase which also raises the floor for our lowest paid members; job security enhancements around technological changes and contracting out, as well as extended recall rights and enhanced severance; and inclusion of chosen family in bereavement leave.
While we did not secure everything we wanted on restricting contracting out and protecting bargaining unit work from management, we did achieve critical language that will give us tools to continue this fight, which will continue into the life of this agreement and future rounds of bargaining.
But our work isn’t finished. To make even bigger gains in our next bargaining round, we have to fight to enforce the language we’ve won, especially around protecting bargaining unit work from being performed by management.
We are more organized than we have ever been as a division. It takes work, and time, to build momentum like this – which is why we need to harness it in the fight for the future of public education.
The bargaining landscape will not change for the better if we do not grow the support we’ve seeded in our workplaces and communities. It’s not just our jobs at stake – it’s also about the sell-off of opportunities and student supports for generations to come.
It’s time to put an end to the Ford government’s years of defunding our college system – a system they are intent to privatize.
We put up an incredible fight through a historic strike. Now, it’s time for us to step up as leaders in the ongoing fight to save our colleges.
We should be incredibly proud of the leadership we’ve shown as a division across the province. Are you ready to keep building with us? If so, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch.
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