TORONTO: The Organization of
Part-time and Sessional Employees of the Colleges of Applied Arts and
Technology (OPSECAAT) re-elected Algonquin College teacher Roger
Couvrette as its president at its annual general meeting last weekend
the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto.
Candy Lindsay, an educational
support worker at Fleming College in Peterborough was re-elected
vice-president. Yvette Munro, a teacher at Humber College in Toronto,
was elected secretary-treasurer.
Part-time and sessional college
employees are excluded by law from union membership and have no
bargaining rights. OPSECAAT was founded in November 2006 to organize
part-time workers and lobby for a change to this legislation.
“As part-time college workers, we
have no job security, few if any benefits, and are seriously underpaid
for the work we do,” said Couvrette. “I look forward to working with a
group of committed part-time workers to right an historical wrong.”
OPSECAAT represents about 17,000
part-time support staff and faculty employed at Ontario’s 24
community colleges. Last year, the International Labour Organization in
Geneva ruled that these workers should have bargaining rights “as any
other workers.
