Issue #4, September 13, 2011
Support staff descends on Toronto today
for march and rally outside management offices
Hundreds of striking CAAT Support workers are expected to descend on
downtown Toronto this morning for a march and rally that will end outside
the Bay Street offices of the College Employer Council.
Busloads of support staff will arrive from Georgian, St.
Lawrence, Mohawk, Niagara and Durham colleges, to join their striking
colleagues arriving from Centennial, Humber, George Brown and Seneca
colleges in Toronto. The march and rally are also expected to attract
additional supporters from organized labour groups in the Toronto region.
“Without a doubt this will be the largest rally to date,” said Rod
Bemister, chair of the CAAT-S bargaining team. “Our message to management
will be loud and clear: Let’s get back to the bargaining table – now!”
Support staff demonstrators are scheduled to assemble at the downtown St.
James campus of George Brown College at 7:30 a.m., before marching the short
few blocks to the Council’s head office at 20 Bay Street where the rally is
expected to begin by 8:00 a.m.
The rally outside the Council’s corporate offices is designed to coincide
with its regular monthly meeting of college representatives.
A full story and photos from today’s march and rally in Toronto will be
published in tomorrow’s Strike Bulletin.
OPSEU president to visit picket lines in Sudbury and the Soo today
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas has a busy day ahead for himself
today. In a demonstration of solidarity with striking college support
workers he will visit picket lines at three colleges in Sudbury and Sault
Ste. Marie.
He kicks off the morning by visiting pickets at Cambrian College in
Sudbury between 10 a.m. and 11. Then it’s a short drive to join the line
with support staff at Collège Boréal, also located in the northern Ontario
city.
Smokey will then hop a plane for the flight to Sault Ste. Marie where he
will attend a solidarity BBQ and speak to members outside the OPSEU regional
office before leading a march of Sault College support staff to the main
entrance of the college.
Bargaining team responds to misleading management correspondence
By now most striking college support workers have likely received some
correspondence from their college president that makes an effort to
“explain” management’s side of the dispute.
Rather than an honest explanation, the correspondence makes a weak effort
to “spin” management’s side of the contract stalemate.
Your bargaining team has put together a point-by-point rebuttal to the
misleading information management has sent out. Let’s call it our facts
versus their fiction.
You can read our “Questions & Answers” document in response
to management’s side of the story by going to
www.opseu.org and follow the links to the unvarnished truth.
The bottom line is this: Your bargaining team is prepared to return to
negotiations on a moment’s notice. Management has no interest whatsoever in
returning to the talks.
Building solidarity through your Strike Bulletin
The daily Strike Bulletin is a great way to build solidarity and maintain
morale throughout the work stoppage. You can do your part by contributing
stories and photos. Demonstrate to your striking colleagues across Ontario
that we’re all in this together.
We’re looking for short stories, picket line observations and pretty much
anything that you think may be of interest to CAAT Support members at 24
colleges in the province. Send your submissions to OPSEU communications
officer Greg Hamara at ghamara@opseu.org
We’re looking for good photos, too. If you capture an image and want to
share it through the Strike Bulletin send it to OPSEU communications
assistant Jason Alward at
caatsmobroom@opseu.org
Remember: close-up and medium distance photos usually reproduce better than
far-away shots.
