More than 10,000 full -time support workers from the 24 Public Universities of Ontario are on strike starting Thursday in an effort to guarantee job security, says the union.
The University Employers Council (CEC) “moved away from [negotiation] Table “After not responding from 4 pm on Wednesday, said the negotiation team of the support personnel of the employees union of the public service of Ontario (OPSEU).
“If you think they can neglect your responsibility to negotiate, it is time for us to remember that there is power in the union,” Opseu said in a statement sent by email.
“This is not just a struggle for a contract, it is the future of student support. We are fighting because we know that our students need us.”
The OPSEU, which represents the library technicians, employees of the registrars and technology support personnel, and the CEC has been negotiating contracts, which expired on September 1 since June.
Citing mass dismissals, OPSEU says that job security and appropriate funds are important concerns for staff.
The union estimated that the previous and future cuts throughout the system will result in 10,000 job losses, and more than 650 programs have already been canceled, Toronto told CBC in August.
One of the largest public sector unions in Ontario is to ask the provincial government to recognize recently published data on universities. The new numbers highlight more than 10,000 job losses, and more than 600 program cuts during the last year.
More than 55 community groups have joined the promise of the Ontario Work Federation to support workers on strike, said Opseu.
Postsecundarias classes from Sault Ste. Marie a Kitchener to Oshawa is in a complete swing, but the strike will put at the essential service in public universities. The picket lines in those schools will have effect at various times and places, the union said.
The negotiations failed after the Opseu “insisted on his demands of ‘Venestian pill’,” said the CEC in an update on its website on Wednesday.
He says that union demands are fiscally impossible at a time when registration and university revenues decrease up to 50 percent.
The CEC urged the union to accept arbitration to avoid the interruption of student learning.
“A complete prohibition of campus closures, university mergers and staff reductions could force universities to bankruptcy,” said the CEC CEO, Graham Lloyd, in the update.
“We remain very separate in a series of important issues and we strongly encourage the union to accept mediation/arbitration to help us reach an agreement.”
The CEC says that its proposal added more than $ 145 million in salary improvements and benefits to the collective agreement, including the following:
- Salary increase of two percent in each year of the contract;
- Increased guard premiums by 75 percent;
- Improved vision and audition benefits;
- Improvements to job security with respect to the new technology;
- Largest change premiums at 67 and 75 percent;
- Compensation improvements increased by 50 percent for fired employees due to the current financial crisis.
