Issue #3, September 9, 2011
Management rejects offer to resume contract talks
Despite the best efforts of your bargaining team to re-start contract
negotiations, college management has said it has no interest in returning to
the bargaining table.
On its website and in media interviews Thursday, College Employer Council
CEO Don Sinclair said management for the 24 colleges won’t be returning to
the table until the CAAT Support bargaining team swallows everything
management is demanding, including a lengthy list of concessions and take-aways.
That’s a no-go, said Rod Bemister, chair of the CAAT Support bargaining
team.
“It’s really regrettable that management has slammed the door shut on the
prospect that the two sides can get together and work out an agreement,”
said Bemister. “It reflects the same closed-minded approach that we’ve
witnessed from the colleges since early June when we first exchanged
contract proposals.”
Undeterred, Bemister said the invitation to resume talks still stands.
“I’ll keep repeating this to whomever wants to listen: we’re prepared to
resume negotiations at any time and wherever management wants to meet. All
they have to do is pick up the phone and give me a call.”
Seneca worker badly injured on picket line
A striking employee of Seneca College suffered multiple fractures on
Sept. 8 when he was struck by a vehicle attempting to enter the school’s
Markham campus, north of Toronto. The driver of the vehicle has been charged
by York Regional police.
“It was a horrible scene,” said Janice Hagan, president of OPSEU Local
561, which represents 540 striking community college workers at Seneca
College. “At the speed the car drove through the picket line it was a
miracle that more people weren’t injured.”
Hagan said the incident occurred when the driver of the vehicle
accelerated and broke through a line of striking college workers who were
picketing the main entrance of the campus.
The injured man, a computer technologist at Seneca College and the
married father of a young child, was rushed to York Region Hospital. Police
investigated and charged the motorist.
“There is absolutely no reason this incident should have ever happened,”
said Hagan. “It’s beyond belief that a driver could act in such a reckless
and deadly manner.”
Canadore Local 658 hosts car wash for cystic fibrosis
Canadore College's Support staff, OPSEU local 658, organized a car wash
today in support of the Canadore College Student Representative
Council's(CSRC) Shinerama fundraising initiative..
Under sunny skies the car wash took place at the MacEwen Gas Bar on
Algonquin Avenue in Northy Bay starting at 10 a.m. All proceeds from the car
wash go to the CSRC's Shinerama fundraising initiative for cystic fibrosis.
Show of labour solidarity at George Brown
The leaders of some of Ontario’s largest unions displayed a mighty show
of force Thursday morning at George Brown College (Casa Loma) when they
joined more than 150 members of Local 561 on the picket line outside the
downtown campus.
“Your struggle is the struggle of working people everyone in this
province,” declared John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York
Region Labour Council.
Cartwright was joined by labour leaders representing public and Catholic
boards of education teacher unions, the Ontario Nurses Association, CUPE
(Ontario), IATSE and the Ontario Federation of Labour.
ONA president Linda Haslam-Stroud best summed up the message all labour
leaders delivered to the CAAT Support pickets when she said: “All working
people deserve a fair deal from their employers. You are on the frontlines
today but your message is one that is shared by workers everywhere!”
OPSEU V.P. hits the road in support of CAAT-S strikers
Eddy Almeida, First Vice President / Treasurer of OPSEU, joined the
picket line today at Conestoga College in Kitchener, where he was greeted by
dozens of striking CAAT Support workers outside the Doon campus.
“It was a real pleasure to join our brothers and sisters on the line at
Conestoga,” said Almeida. “You could really sense the solidarity and the
determination of our workers to stick it out as long as it takes to
negotiate a fair and just contract.”
Almeida used the occasion to speak to local media where he reminded
reporters that the CAAT Support strike is about maintaining good jobs for
more than 8,000 members across the province.
“If we start down the road of giving into management’s demands for
concessions and take-aways we will eventually end up with a college support
system staffed entirely by part-time employees,” he said.
Despite a demanding schedule as OPSEU V.P., Almeida said he is intent on
visiting as many picket lines as possible around the province as long as the
job action continues. He was later scheduled to visit Sheridan College on
Friday.
Send us your stories! Send us your photos!
There’s plenty happening on the picket lines. It’s about time we shared
the news with everyone.
The daily Strike Bulletin is a great way to let members everywhere know
what’s happening in your local. If you’ve got a short story or anecdote to
tell, or some great photographs you’ve taken, then send the material to
OPSEU head office where we will do our best to publish it in Strike
Bulletin.
Short stories, anecdotes or observations should be sent to OPSEU
communications officer Greg Hamara at ghamara@opseu.org
If you’ve taken a good photo then send it to communication assistant
Jason Alward at jalward@opseu.org.
Remember that close-up photos usually work better than far-away ones.
