Letter from President Leah Casselman to Premier Dalton McGuinty
OPEN LETTER
March 10, 2006
Dalton McGuinty
Premier
Legislative Assembly
Queens Park
Dear Premier,
I am writing to stress the need for urgent action to end the
current dispute in the colleges.
I am appalled at the utter failure of the colleges to bargain
education quality that has resulted in the current strike at 24
Ontario community colleges. As you know quality is the central issue
for 9,100 striking college faculty, members of the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union. That is what the strike is all about.
The OPSEU team filed unfair labour charges today as a result of a
last-minute bargaining move by the colleges which they knew could
not produce a settlement. The colleges wanted to provoke a strike.
We negotiate 500 contracts in OPSEU and rarely do we see such a
last-minute bad-faith move by an employer.
Our members tried without success to bargain changes to the
collective agreement that would reverse the decade-long decline in
education quality in the colleges. We want smaller classes and more
faculty so every college student can have more time, more attention,
and more feedback. In the end, our members went on strike for the
very principles outlined in the Rae report, principles you yourself
endorsed last May.
Now we need you to intervene – not with legislation but by
directing your agents in the colleges to begin bargaining in good
faith, and to put a serious and reasonable offer on the table now,
an offer that can form the basis of a settlement.
Premier, the issue is quality. Our members want it, the students
need it, and Bob Rae recommended it. Please remind the colleges that
you have funded it and want to see it delivered.
Leah Casselman,
President
