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Union prepared to delay its Feb. 11 strike vote deadline if necessary to assist with voting.
Toronto (3 Feb. 2010) - The Ontario Public Service Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) is recommending that faculty members at the province's 24 community colleges vote 'No' in a ballot that the college management plans to conduct on its so-called final offer.
To assist the process, if the vote can be arranged on or before Feb. 12, OPSEU is prepared to move its pending strike deadline so that members can vote. The union also wishes to minimize disruption to the students. The strike deadline is now set for Feb. 11.
Ted Montgomery, chair of the OPSEU bargaining team for the faculty, says that the union is glad the employer has finally fulfilled their responsibilities to send the offer to his members.
“All along, the colleges had the legal right to present their offer to our members,” Montgomery said. “They claimed that we were preventing our members from voting. Nothing is further from the truth. In actual fact, the employer had this option all along but for some reason refused to do it and blamed the union instead.”
Montgomery is confident members will reject this offer, which contains significant takeaways and does not address workload and academic freedom issues.
“We still want to achieve a fair negotiated settlement and avoid a strike,” Montgomery adds. “That remains our target.”
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says a solid rejection of the latest employer offer will send a clear message to the colleges that core issues are still outstanding.
“Our members know that the improvements we are seeking will ultimately provide a better education for the 200,000 students in our college system,” Thomas says. “That is our goal, and it should be the goal of the Colleges as well.”
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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE
More information:
OPSEU offers binding arbitration in college dispute