Picket line
stories – day 4-5
Confederation
(source local 732)
Good public relations
Confederation College Faculty in Thunder Bay have been handing out happy
face stickers, candy and "free B's" (upper case letter "B"'s cut from
paper) to children who attend daycare on campus.
Ron
Morancy, a grandfather of 5, has been teaching Power Engineering at
Confederation College for 30 years. He wanted to reassure parents and
children who have to cross the picket line to reach their DayCare
Centre, and started handing out chocolate Hershey "Hugs &
Kisses" while their cars were stopped.
A
young child waving their "Free B" as he is driven through the line is
Very Cute! The daycare is closed during March Break, but we will start
handing out treats again next week.
Mohawk
(source Local 240)
Celebrations on the line
On Wednesday morning
brothers and sisters at Fennell Campus shared in a
celebratory cake for our newest Local 240 member, Rufus Bayle. After
17 years, Rufus became a full-time professor in the College and Career
Preparation Program, on the eve of the strike. Congratulations and
welcome to Brother Rufus! (see photo in the Photo Gallery).
Seneca
(Source local 560)
Walking
the line
I
have just put in two and a half hours walking the picket line at Seneca
Newnham campus. The temperature is low but morale is high and, from the
liveliness of the conversations, there is lots of bonding going on among
folks who normally don't come into contact.
As
a partial load teacher since 1989, I am particularly interested in the
demands currently on the table concerning partial load employees. Many
p.l. colleagues I spoke to on the line today didn't know what actually
was on the table that concerned us. I passed on to them that, first, the
union is demanding a rise of full time faculty to total 80 per cent.
Secondly, there is a demand that partial load be subject to the workload
formula. Given the stories I heard from them, this is an issue of key
concern to them as they have much to gain if this demand goes through.
For example, it is not uncommon for them to be asked to develop new
courses without any remuneration whatsoever.
Just want to express admiration for these dedicated teachers who are
working under difficult circumstances. We have much to gain from this
set of negotiations.
Georgian
(Local 350)
Solidarity and
support
The
professors on our picket line has been so supportive of each other … we
are feeling a sense of solidarity about the position we have taken. Our
colleagues working in the college stop and talk with us on the way in -
many of them have brought trays of coffee and other goodies. We are
fortunate to have a chef on our line who has graciously made us hot
soup, different and interesting soups, every day!
There seems to be a culture of suspicion and fear at the management
level that we have not seen in the past. Georgian has always prided
itself on the spirit of cooperation that has existed between management
and staff. This appears to be slowly eroding.
It
doesn't take a lot of depth of analysis to figure out who benefits from
this strike - students lose tuition and classes, teachers lose pay,
management and the Ministry save money and have no incentive to return
to the table with a legitimate offer.
Students are not widgets, colleges are not factories churning out 'the
product'. If students want an education that makes them competitive in
the marketplace it has to be one based on excellence. I love my job, I
love to see the looks on my students' faces when they have that moment
of realization. We can't make college educations into impersonal,
isolating experiences that benefits the few.
Canadore
(Local 657)
Injury and tragedy can occur any time on the line… sadly, one of our
better picketers, Terry Hanrahan, was struck by a Mack truck during a
shift. Terry was able to finish his shift thanks to the dedication of
the other picketers who helped drag him back and forth across the picket
line for the last two hours of his shift.
As Terry was loaded into the ambulance, it was heart warming to hear
everyone on the line chanting “quality education”. I gave Terry a
thumbs-up salute…Terry looked pathetic as he struggled to return my
salute – apparently his thumb was broken because he was only able to
give me a one finger salute…We look forward to having him back on the
line tomorrow.
Please send your
picket line stories to dcox@opseu.org
