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Ontario (July 2004) - An arbitration award has decided that all the terms and conditions of our collective agreement apply to 'persons employed temporarily during the College vacation periods.'
In most colleges this means students working during the summer. It probably applies to hundreds of young people working in the colleges.
But the colleges say it only applies to Sault College where the original grievance was filed.
OPSEU/NUPGE is working to make sure that everyone who is entitled to new benefits gets them.
It means the lowest pay for these workers would be Pay Band 1($12.73 to $14.76). It means benefits and grievance rights for them. It means pay for statutory holidays, and an opportunity to build some job security.
The colleges are fighting this arbitration ruling, but we take this responsibility seriously.
Representing the students has become an obligation and a challenge.