Full-time College Support workers on strike hit the headlines this week in their fight for the future of student supports and public education in Ontario. From messages of support from students, powerful perspectives from the lines and headlines that captured the urgency of this fight, the first week has set the tone for what’s to come.
Below are some stand-out photos, quotes and headlines from this first week that amplified worker voices far beyond the picket lines.
Standout headlines
Mohawk College striking workers see support from students, other unions — and a giant rat | CBC News
Algonquin academic union backs striking support workers | Ottawa Citizen
Students speak out in support of striking workers
“Our support staff support us in almost every aspect of our education, from admissions, to scheduling, to study help, to keeping the lights on, and I feel as though students should have the opportunity to support those who support us through our educational careers.”
-Maddy Wright, Social Service Worker Program Student, St. Lawrence College
College support staff strike leaves northern Ontario students worried about impacts | CBC News
“[The strike] is going to impact most of my classes because when we have to sign out our equipment for geology field work or for surveying, if our equipment manager who’s a support staff is gone, we can’t sign out the equipment and won’t be able to do work.”
–Anthony McGlade, Mining Engineering Student, Cambrian College
“They are simply demanding their rights and ensuring the continuity of our services at the college. It’s normal for workers to demand better conditions of work.”
-Steve Feukang, Computer Science Student, Collège Boréal
“A lot of our service employees work very closely with the trades program, making sure that we have the proper supplies and the proper equipment. It is affecting us greatly that our service employees are currently on strike because that means that we are lacking a lot of services that are necessary to us for our shop classes.”
-Valerie Lalonde, Trades Student, Collège Boréal
Member voices on the lines
OPSEU Local 418 membership confronts Ontario minister in Cornwall | Gananoque Reporter
“You are the minister. You have the power to get them back to the table. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about the students who are suffering right now and not getting the services they need?”
-Veronica Attard, Local 416, Algonquin College
“I used to be your librarian, I was replaced by a vending machine…I gave away 2,000 books this summer. They were slated for the garbage.”
– Ann Small, former library technician, St. Lawrence College’s Cornwall campus
Opinion: College strike isn’t about the union, it’s about funding – Sudbury News
“The question isn’t whether we can afford to strike. It’s whether we can afford not to — whether we can afford to watch programs disappear, colleges close and communities lose their economic anchors. Whether we’ll hand our children a college system worthy of their potential, or one diminished by decades of cuts and government neglect. That choice is before us now, and it’s a fight worth having.”
-Christopher J. Duncanson-Hales, Local 658, Canadore College
Full-time support workers on strike at Northern and Boréal colleges | The Daily Press
“They need to come to the table and negotiate. We put stuff across the table to enhance those same things, and they don’t want to talk about it. They want to dictate to us what we’re taking. That’s not a negotiation. We don’t want to be on strike, but have to be on strike to get what we need and deserve for our members.”
-Dan Brisson, President, Local 672, Collège Boréal
‘Last resort’: Support staff strike hits Georgian’s Orillia campus – Orillia News
“We have accessibility services, so students that need accommodations or support in the classroom to help with their success. We offer student success advising, so students that are looking for advice about classes, enrolling and registering, or just staying on track if they’re feeling overwhelmed. We have academic technologists that help with labs, and I work with students building skills for employment or meeting prerequisites for programs across Ontario. If we’re here to support, it’s in our name, we’re support staff.”
-Kristine Brandt, Picket Captain, Georgian College, Orillia Campus
Fleming students join picket lines in fight for campus
“The tactics we’re seeing this time around from the College Employer Council and the administration at each of the colleges has been paramount in what we would categorize as union busting.”
-Marcia Steeves, President, Local 351, Fleming College
Fanshawe students reaction to support staff strike
“Student services, things like counseling, accessibility services, think the library and learning commons, think the bookstore, think the print shop, all those places that students utilize to enhance their experience, let alone the folks that support the labs that teach them.”
-Adam Rayfield, President, Local 109, Fanshawe College
‘Heartbeat of the college’: Staff at Cambrian, Boréal hit the picket lines
“We want to be at work. We want to be able to support our students and provide the services that we provide, so that they can have a pleasant college experience.”
-Yvan Roy, Vice President, Local 656, Cambrian College
Picket lines continue at St. Clair College as employers push for arbitration
“The support is high, its very high. What really is disrupting our education is the fact that our faculty and our facilities aren’t fully equipped with the means that we need to get a proper and succinct education”
-Samuel Golovko, Second Year Accounting Student, St. Clair College