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'We need your help to send a message to the government and the administration. - Leah Casselman
Toronto (23 March 2006) - Educators and union activists will join strikers represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) Thursday for solidarity rallies at all 24 community colleges across the province.
Talks with the colleges' administration broke off on Wednesday, with OPSEU calling for binding arbitration to settle the dispute.
Each OPSEU faculty local will host a rally at one location for all pickets. Education unions, member unions of the Ontario Federation of Labour and local labour councils have been invited to participate in the rallies.
“[Faculty members] are fighting for what every Ontario education worker wants: the ability to deliver quality education to the students in our system,” says OPSEU President Leah Casselman.
“After witnessing a decade of decline in our colleges, OPSEU members have decided to take a stand for smaller classes, more full-time faculty, and more faculty time with students. We need your help to send a message to the government and the administration of the 24 colleges.”
Unions like the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association, and the Ontario Secondary Schools Federation have been staunch supporters of the OPSEU fight. The Canadian Federation of Students (Ontario) and the Ontario Council of University Faculty Associations have also lent their support.
For a list of rally times and locations, click here. For more information, contact your local strike headquarters. NUPGE
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