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January 20, 2009
Vote turnout “fabulous”
Part-time and sessional faculty swamp polls to VOTE YES
Part-time and sessional faculty want to vote, and they want to vote for OPSEU.
That’s the only conclusion to be
drawn from the turnout at voting locations at Algonquin College and St. Lawrence
College yesterday.
In Ottawa, CBC radio began
publicizing the vote at 6:30 a.m. and did so every half-hour. By the time voting
began, 25 people were lined up to cast their ballots.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of
all the people who came out to vote,” said part-time faculty member Caron
Fitzpatrick, who voted first. “I knew everybody in the line. They were all
people we had talked to over the last two years, and they were all there to vote
YES.
“I was really excited to be the
first one to vote,” she added. “It’s been a long road. It just felt great to be
the very first person to just stand up and say, ‘We’re not going to take this
any more.’
“You almost had to slap the grin
off my face.”
In total, 146 people voted in the
morning session at Algonquin, said scrutineer Jack Wilson, a member of OPSEU
Local 415. The Labour Relations Officer overseeing balloting had to extend
voting hours by 30 minutes so everyone could vote.
“It couldn’t have gone better,”
said Fitzpatrick. “It was a huge, huge statement to management, and that’s what
we’ve been drilling home to people. “We know we are going to win this vote, but
we need a big turnout to show that the people who work in the colleges want to
start bargaining now.”
Union supporters began the day at
Algonquin at 7:30 a.m. “Everybody we talked to took a VOTE YES button, everybody
took a VOTE YES leaflet,” said Roger Couvrette, president of the Organization of
Part-Time and Sessional Employees (OPSECAAT). “It was fabulous, is what it was.
“The place was humming. It was
really remarkable.”
Voter turnout was also solid at
sessions at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Brockville, and Cornwall.
By the end of the day, 532 people
had voted at the two colleges.
News outlets across Ontario have
picked up the story, which helps promote the vote.
“Months ago when we were doing our
organizing drive, a lot of people had never heard of our campaign,” said
Couvrette. “Now everybody we talk to knows about it.”
Voting resumes today at La cité
collégiale, Fleming College, and Loyalist College and continues at remaining
locations until Feb. 5.
For a complete listing of all vote
times and locations, click here or
visit www.collegeworkers.org
for all dates.
You can vote ANYWHERE in Ontario
Many part-time and sessional
faculty work at one college but live near another. Others may be traveling
during the vote period. Here’s the good news: You can vote at any one of the 60
vote locations in Ontario. For a complete and up-to-date listing of vote
locations, please visit www.collegeworkers.org.
This is a secret ballot vote
There was some confusion in the
voting at Algonquin College yesterday, according to Jack Wilson, an OPSEU
scrutineer and a member of Local 415 at the college. Apparently some people had
the impression that the voting was not by secret ballot.
“We really need to reiterate that
this vote is a secret ballot vote, and that neither the union nor the employer
will ever know how an individual has voted,” said Wilson.
The confusion arose because the
voters’ list across Ontario is still in dispute between the colleges and OPSEU.
When the Ontario Labour Relations Board called the current certification vote,
it decided to settle disputes over eligibility after the vote is complete. This
is common in certification votes, and the method used is called “segregated”
balloting. Here’s how a segregated vote works:
1. To ensure confidentiality, the
Labour Relations Officer (LRO) in charge of balloting puts each ballot in a
blank envelope.
2. That blank envelope goes into
another envelope. The LRO writes the voter’s identity on the outside of the
outside envelope.
3. After hearing arguments from
the union and the colleges, the Labour Relations Board rules on the eligibility
of each individual.
4. The envelopes of voters who
are ruled to be ineligible are destroyed.
5. The envelopes of voters who
are ruled to be eligible are opened and the inside blank envelopes taken out.
6. The outside envelopes of the
eligible voters are destroyed. The inside (blank) envelopes – which are now
anonymous – are mixed together and opened.
7. The ballots from inside the
blank envelopes are counted.
“Everyone who thinks they are
eligible to vote – because they have worked or do work for an Ontario college –
should vote,” says Connie Huziak, OPSEU Organizing Representative. “I can’t
emphasize enough that we will be fighting to make every vote count.”
Voting this week
Officers of the Ontario Labour
Relations Board will supervise voting this week at these colleges:
Jan. 19 Algonquin, St.
Lawrence (completed)
Jan. 20 La cité collégiale,
Fleming, Loyalist
Jan. 21 Georgian, Durham
Jan. 22 Sheridan, Mohawk
For a complete listing of vote
locations and times for this week’s vote, see the chart on page 5.
The truth about full-timers and you
Don Sinclair, head of the Colleges
Compensation and Appointments Council, wants part-timers and sessionals to vote
against joining OPSEU. In one of his recent letters, Sinclair subtly suggests
that OPSEU full-time faculty want to get rid of all part-time jobs at the
colleges.
So, are full-time faculty out to
“get” part-timers?
No, says OPSEU President Warren
(Smokey) Thomas.
“Part-timers are not the problem at
Ontario’s colleges,” Thomas said yesterday. “The exploitation of part-timers is
the problem at Ontario’s colleges.
“For decades, the colleges have
used wage discrimination against part-timers as the central feature of their
cheap labour strategy,” he said. “This has undermined the bargaining power of
full-timers while paying part-timers and sessionals as little as one-fifth of
what their work is actually worth.
“OPSEU’s agenda for the colleges is
no secret: We want part-timers and sessionals to have their own bargaining team
that they elect so that they
can decide for themselves what they need,” Thomas said.
“We know there are some part-timers
and sessionals whose dream it is to make a career of teaching and who want
permanent, full-time jobs,” he said. “Other part-timers enjoy working part-time
but want better part-time jobs.
“It will be up to part-timers and
sessionals – and no one else – to decide how to address these issues.
“Whatever they decide, their union
will back them up 100 per cent.”
Got questions?
We’ve got answers
If you have questions about joining
a union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, or collective bargaining in
general, we’ve got answers. For answers to the most commonly-asked questions,
visit www.collegeworkers.org . If
you have questions that don’t appear in our Q&A, call our hotline at
1-866-811-7274.
Part-time and sessional college
faculty certification vote
January 19 – Jan. 22, 2009
Mon., Jan. 19 Algonquin
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon; 4:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Room P105, 1385
Woodroffe Ave., OTTAWA Mon., Jan. 19 Algonquin
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room 323B, 315 Pembroke
St. E., PEMBROKE
Mon., Jan. 19 Algonquin
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon; Room 10, 7 Craig St., PERTH
Mon., Jan. 19 St. Lawrence
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room B105, 2288 Parkdale Ave.,
BROCKVILLE
Mon., Jan. 19 St. Lawrence
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Riverview Room, 2 Belmont St.,
CORNWALL
Mon., Jan. 19 St. Lawrence
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 pm. Room 12215, 100 Portsmouth Ave., KINGSTON
Tues., Jan. 20 La Cité
11:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.; 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room C-3040, 801 Aviation Pkwy.,
OTTAWA
Tues., Jan. 20
Fleming 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room 158,
Albert St. S., LINDSAY
Tues., Jan. 20
Loyalist 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room 209, 195 Hastings St. N.,
BANCROFT
Tues., Jan. 20
Fleming 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room 515, 599
Brealey Dr., PETERBOROUGH
Tues., Jan. 20
Fleming 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Main Meeting Room, 297 College Dr.,
HALIBURTON
Tues., Jan. 20
Loyalist 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Room 3N2, Wallbridge-Loyalist Rd.,
BELLEVILLE
Weds., Jan. 21 Georgian
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room C353, 1 Georgian
Dr., BARRIE
Weds., Jan. 21 Durham
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon; 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Administrative
Boardroom, 1610 Champlain Ave., WHITBY
Weds., Jan. 21 Georgian
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Room 619, 1450 8th St. E., OWEN SOUND
Weds., Jan. 21 Durham
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Main Meeting Room, 2 Campbell Dr., UXBRIDGE
Weds., Jan. 21 Georgian
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
A101 Conference Room,
825 Memorial Ave., ORILLIA
Weds., Jan. 21 Durham
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m.; 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. Room H132, 2000 Simcoe St.
N., OSHAWA
Weds., Jan. 21 Georgian
6:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Room 113, 649 Prospect Blvd., MIDLAND
Thurs., Jan. 22
Sheridan 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. ; 4:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Room C230,
1430 Trafalgar Rd., OAKVILLE
Thurs., Jan. 22
Mohawk 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. –
7:30 p.m.
Room C043, 135 Fennell
Ave. W., HAMILTON
Thurs., Jan. 22
Mohawk 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Room 208, Institute of
Applied Health Science, 1400 Main St. W., HAMILTON
Thurs., Jan. 22
Mohawk 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Room A211, 481 Barton
St., STONEY CREEK
Thurs., Jan. 22
Mohawk 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Room A-127A, 411 Elgin
St., BRANTFORD
Thurs., Jan. 22
Sheridan 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m.; 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Room B216,
7899 McLaughlin Rd., BRAMPTON
For vote times and locations across
Ontario, visit
www.collegeworkers.org.
For full information about the OPSEU drive to win union rights for part-timers
and sessionals at Ontario’s community colleges, visit
www.collegeworkers.org or
call 1-866-811-7274.
The Part-Time Times is authorized
for distribution by Roger Couvrette, president of the Organization of Part-Time
and Sessional Employees of the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (OPSECAAT),
and Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union.
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