May 6-8, 2010 at the Sheraton Centre, Toronto.

OPSEU Convention rallies to demand McGuinty Liberals count votes of part-time college workers

May 6, 2010

Over 1000 protesters marched to the Ministry of Labour on the first day of OPSEU’s Convention. Demanding that the McGuinty Liberals open the ballot boxes and count the votes of disenfranchised workers, OPSEU Convention delegates were joined by labour leaders from across the province.

“The amended Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA) technically allows part-time college workers in Ontario to unionize, but it has been a complete failure in practice”, said Warren (Smokey) Thomas, President of the Ontario Public Service Union (OPSEU). “There are now several thousand part-time teachers, counsellors, technical and support staff who have exercised their rights and now cannot even join a union of their choice. What country are we living in?” asked Thomas.

Under the new legislation, 35 percent of the workers affected must sign union cards in order for the Ontario Labour Relations Board to order a vote.  The legislation also gives the colleges an opportunity to challenge the number of cards the union has signed.  This is exactly what two employers have done in the past year – the Ontario Colleges and also Ryerson University where OPSEU recently signed up part-time support staff workers.

Part-time college academic and support workers, and part-time Ryerson support workers, have been waiting for months to have their votes to join OPSEU counted.

OPSEU  President, Warren (Smokey) Thomas addressed the rally together with Betty Cree, Colleges Support Chair; Paddy Musson, Colleges Academic Chair; Candy Lindsay, representing part-time college support workers; Roger Couvrette, representing part-time college academic workers; John Cartwright, President, Toronto and York Region Labour Council; Terry Downey, Secretary Treasurer, Ontario Federation of Labour; Ken Neuman, Director, United Steelworkers Canada; and Larry Brown, Secretary Treasurer, National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).