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January 30, 2009
Part-time faculty turnout tops 2,400 with Toronto colleges still to vote
The vote to win union rights for
part-time and sessional faculty at Ontario’s community colleges rolled through
southwestern Ontario this week and plowed its way through the north. More than
1,000 people turned out to cast ballots at 11 colleges.
Fanshawe College had the highest
turnout, with 263 people voting at its London, St. Thomas, and Woodstock
campuses. In the north, the largest turnout was at Cambrian in Sudbury, where
102 voters came out.
“Once again we’ve had a very strong
week of voting,” said Roger Couvrette, president of the organization of
part-time and sessional college workers (OPSECAAT) and a bit of a media
celebrity these days as well. “There can be no disputing that part-timers and
sessionals are determined to stand up and be counted.
“We’ve put up with substandard
treatment for far too long, and we’re not going to take it any longer.”
Voting Jan. 26-29 took place at
Boréal, Cambrian, Canadore, Conestoga, Confederation, Fanshawe, Lambton, Sault,
St. Clair, Niagara, and Northern Colleges.
“People were very supportive,” said
Len Hupet, OPSEU’s lead organizer in the southwest. “For the most part the
people that came out were card-signers.”
The four Toronto colleges, which
employ 40 per cent of part-time and sessional faculty in Ontario, will be the
last to vote. Balloting at Humber, Centennial, Seneca, and George Brown happens
Feb. 2-5.
“We are cheering for a big turnout
in Toronto, and hopefully it will match or exceed the participation rates we’ve
seen in the first two weeks,” said Roger Couvrette. “Every vote we get builds
OPSEU’s credibility as the future bargaining agent of part-time and sessional
faculty.
“Let’s make Week 3 the biggest week
yet.”
Parking push pays off
Free parking for voters at Humber,
Seneca, Centennial... George Brown still a question mark
Efforts by OPSEU to get Toronto
colleges to offer free parking for people voting in the part-time faculty
certification vote have paid off.
Humber, Feb. 2
At the North campus, go to the
parking kiosk at the main entrance for directions to parking. Voting is in Room
D109, just inside the main entrance. For voting at Lakeshore, go to the parking
kiosk at the Lakeshore West Campus, west of Kipling Ave. on 23rd St.
Voting is in Room A116A, just inside the entrance to A Building from the parking
lot.
Centennial, Feb. 3
Centennial College has agreed to
free parking outside all voting locations while voting takes place. Contact the
parking lot attendant or leave a “Voting” sign in your car window. Note that
parking is NOT free all day. Please move your car after you vote – unless it is
after 5:30 p.m. when parking is free anyway.
Seneca, Feb. 4
Seneca College has agreed to free
parking outside all voting locations during voting hours. Leave a “Voting” sign
in your car window. Watch for more details from Seneca management.
George Brown, Feb. 5
There is no college-owned parking
at the St. James Campus; OPSEU continues to press George Brown to offer free
parking at Casa Loma. NOTE: A bulletin from George Brown indicated that the
certification vote for part-time and sessional faculty is “tentatively”
scheduled for Feb. 5. The vote is definitely happening. There is nothing
“tentative” about it!
OPSEU campaign supports equal pay for equal
work
It’s time to end discrimination
based on work status
The central idea behind OPSEU’s
campaign to unionize part-time and sessional college workers goes far beyond
college campuses and far beyond Ontario, says Roger Couvrette, president of the
organization of part-time and sessional college employees (OPSECAAT).
“From the very beginning of this
campaign, we have been fighting for an end to discrimination,” says Couvrette.
“Obviously the fact that it used to be against the law for us to unionize was
discriminatory, and we worked very hard to get that changed.
“But we are still facing
discrimination in terms of the wages and benefits we receive compared to
full-timers,” he said. “To me, that’s what our union drive is all about – ending
discrimination.”
The way Ontario treats its
part-time and sessional college workers would be against the law in Europe. In
the late 1990s, the European Parliament passed continent-wide directives making
it illegal to pay part-time and contract workers less, on an hourly basis, than
full-time permanent workers doing the same work.
Part-timers in the European Union
also receive – by law – pro-rated benefits.
“If your college paid you less
because of your gender, your race, your religion, or your sexual orientation,
that would be illegal in Ontario,” Couvrette said. “But if they pay you less
because you are part-time or working on a short-term contract, they can get away
with it. That has to stop, and we’re going to make it our mission to stop it.”
OPSEU, whose 120,000 members are
roughly 30 per cent part-time workers, has taken the problem of discrimination
based on work status very seriously. The union’s concern led to the launch last
year of the Equal Pay for Equal Work campaign.
“Hundreds of thousands of Ontarians
face the same issues faced by college part-timers,” says Vanda Klumper, chair of
OPSEU’s Liquor Board Employees Division. “Three out of eight jobs in Canada are
now part-time, temporary, seasonal, or insecure in some way. That’s why we’re
calling on government and employers to take action to turn poor jobs into good
ones.”
Sixty per cent of LCBO employees
work as “casuals” earning $6 to $8 an hour less than full-timers, with no job
security and no benefits.
The union launched the campaign on
Dec. 10, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 23(2) of the Declaration says that, “Everyone, without any
discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.”
“The fact that a lot of college
part-timers are getting paid one-fifth of what full-timers get to teach a course
is not just a money issue, it’s a human rights issue,” said Roger Couvrette.
“That’s why I’m a huge supporter of the Equal Pay campaign.”
Full details on the OPSEU campaign,
with a report on Dec. 10 events across the province, are available at
www.equalpay.ca .
Vote at ANY Toronto location
Many part-time and sessional
faculty work at one college but live near another. Here’s the good news: From
February 2-5, you can vote at any one of 12 Toronto vote locations. The Ontario
Labour Relations Board will supervise voting this week as follows:
Monday, Feb. 2 – Humber College
Lakeshore Campus Room A
116A, 3199 Lakeshore Blvd.
9:30
a.m. – 12:00 p.m.; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
North Campus
Room D109, 205 Humber College Blvd.
9:30 a.m. –
12:00 p.m.; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 3 – Centennial
College
Progress Campus Room
C3-06A, 941 Progress Ave.,
11:30
a.m. – 1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Ashtonbee Campus Room E-215,
75 Ashtonbee Rd.
12:00 noon
– 1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
HP Campus
Room 345, 755 Morningside Ave.
12:00 noon – 1:30
p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Centre for Creative
Room 105, 951 Carlaw Ave.
Communications 12:00 –
1:30 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 4 – Seneca
College
Newnham Campus Library
Conference Room, Room B2082, 1750 Finch Ave. E.
10:00 a.m. – 12:00
p.m.; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
York Campus Library
Conference Room, Room 1135, 70 The Pond Rd.
11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.;
4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
King Campus Campus
Boardroom, 13990 Dufferin St.
10:00 a.m. – 12:00
noon; 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Markham Campus Room M169,
10 Allstate Pkwy.
10:00 a.m. – 12:00
noon; 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 5 – George Brown
College
Casa Loma Campus Room E421,
146 Kendal Ave.
10:00 a.m.
– 12:00 noon; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
St. James Campus Room
E113, 290 Adelaide St. E.
10:00
a.m. – 12:00 noon; 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
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.
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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