FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October
24, 2005
Make unions legal
for college part-timers: OPSEU
TORONTO – The union
representing 15,000 full-time employees at Ontario community
colleges has launched a campaign to make unionization legal
for part-time college employees.
“Ontario is the only province
in Canada that legally bars part-time college employees from
improving their lives through union membership,” said Leah
Casselman, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union. “The existing law is unfair, it is wrong, and we are
telling Premier Dalton McGuinty that it must be scrapped
immediately.
Part-time employees, including
both academic and support staff, now outnumber full-time
employees at Ontario colleges, Casselman said.
“The existing law singles out
about 16,000 people for cruel and unusual punishment,” she
said. “Despite their vital contribution to education,
part-timers are treated as a disposable workforce, forced to
subsist on short-term, temporary, underpaid jobs. Having the
right to unionize is an important first step toward fair
treatment for these workers.”
The union has begun holding
meetings of part-time workers and will do “whatever it takes”
to win equal rights for college part-timers, Casselman said.
NDP MPP Rosario Marchese is
expected to table a private member’s bill in the Legislature
this week in support of the union’s campaign.
Please see our issue backgrounder at
http://www.opseu.org/news/Press2005/OPSEUbackgrounder.pdf
Version française disponible au
www.sefpo.org.
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For more information,
contact:
Randy Robinson, OPSEU
Communications: (416) 448-7441; (416) 788-9134 (cell)
or the following local
spokespeople:
|
College |
Faculty Contact |
Support Staff Contact |
|
|
|
|
|
Algonquin |
Jack Wilson
(613) 727-4723 x 5099 |
Craig Athrens
(613) 727-4723 x 7693 |
|
Boréal |
Jean-Pierre Belanger
(705) 560-6673 x 4291 |
Pierre Perreault
(705) 521-6034 |
|
Cambrian |
John Closs
(705) 566-8101 x 7258 |
Katherine Hilyer
(705) 566-8101 x 7444 |
|
Canadore |
Peggy Morrison
(705) 474-7600 x 5152 |
Al Rivet
(705) 474-7600 x 5823 |
|
Centennial |
Eileen Burrows
(416) 694-2575 |
Larry Goldin
(416) 289-5000 x 2109 |
|
Conestoga |
Walter Boettger
(519) 748-5220 x 3734 |
Lisa Nequist
(519) 748-3518 |
|
Confederation |
Kaia Beaudry
(807) 475-6390 |
Richard Belleau
(807) 621-1265 |
|
Durham |
Deborah Rautins
(905) 721-3111 x 2184 |
Rick Nemisz
(905) 721-2000 x 2449 |
|
Fanshawe |
Paddy Musson
(519) 452-4413 |
Jean Fordyce
(519) 452-4154 x 4280 |
|
George Brown |
Tom Tomassi
(416) 415-5000 x 2200 |
Marilou Martin-Benoit
(416) 415-5000 x 2925 |
|
Georgian |
Mary O’Farrell-Bower
(705) 725-1968 x 1426 |
Jill Peacock
(705) 728-1968 x 1190 |
|
Humber |
Maureen Wall
(416) 675-6622 x 4007 |
|
|
La Cité |
Benoit Dupuis
(613) 742-2493 x 2065
Fernand Begin
(613) 742-2493 x 2047 |
|
|
Lambton |
Ray Wreford
(519) 542-7751 x 3253 |
|
|
Loyalist |
Bernard Belanger
(613) 969-8989 |
Gord Wright
(613) 969-1913 x 368 |
|
Mohawk |
Fred Deys
(905) 575-1212 x 3098 |
John Pooler
(905) 575-2339 |
|
Niagara |
Sherri Rosen
(905) 735-2211 x 7506 |
Bob Holder
(905) 641-2252 x 7792 |
|
Northern |
Lad Shaba
(705) 235-3211 x 163 |
Aline Camerand
(705) 268-3033 x 4120 |
|
St. Clair |
Barb Graham
(519) 972-2727 x 4328 |
Florry Lang
(519) 972-2727 x 4448 |
|
St. Lawrence |
Mary Ann White
(613) 354-0556 x 3139 |
John Molleson
(613) 561-0646 |
|
Sault |
Jim Pardy
(705) 759-6774 x 2625 |
Lorri Foley
(705) 759-2554 x 2672 |
|
Seneca |
Larry Olivo
(416) 495-1599 |
Rod Bemister
(416) 779-0669 |
|
Sheridan |
Doug Law
(905) 845-9430 x 2832 |
Jay Jackson
(905) 536-6476 |
|
Sir Sandford Fleming |
Gary Bonczak
(705) 749-5520 x 1212 |
Judith Nisbett
(705) 749-5520 x 1611 |
