Colleges are
incapable of negotiating, says faculty union; OPSEU calls
for McGuinty to intervene
TORONTO – The Ontario Public
Service Employees Union today called for Premier Dalton
McGuinty to intervene in the current strike in 24 Ontario
community colleges.
Education quality is the
central issue for 9,100 striking college faculty, members of
the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. Their team has
filed unfair labour charges today as a result of a
last-minute bargaining move by the colleges. The union says
the employer failed to “make every reasonable effort to make
an agreement” as required by the Colleges Collective
Bargaining Act, Part II – 5.
At a news conference today,
Ted Montgomery, lead negotiator for the colleges, said the
administration’s absolute refusal to bargain was what caused
the strike. “They knew that this offer could not produce a
settlement. They wanted to provoke a strike.”
So far Premier Dalton
McGuinty and Colleges Minister Chris Bentley have not taken
a direct interest in the dispute, even though it affects
classes for 150,000 college students.
The faculty have been without
a contract since Aug. 31, 2005.
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For more details and contact
information for each college, see list on following page.
