Canadore strike possible

Faculty at Canadore College and Ontario's 23 other community colleges have set a strike deadline of March 3 after voting Tuesday almost 75 per cent in favour of strike action.

The following is the full text of a news release issued last night by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

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College faculty vote to strike

TORONTO, Feb. 17 - Faculty at Ontario's 24 community colleges have voted 74.5 per cent in favour of a strike if they are unable to resolve contract issues.

Members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the 8,500 teachers, counsellors and librarians have set March 3 as a strike deadline.

The central issue in bargaining is the continuing erosion of the quality of education offered at the colleges.

Faculty are resisting management concessions on workload, to ensure they have sufficient time to prepare classes, work with students and evaluate student work.

Pay is also an issue.

For 15 years both sides have accepted the idea that college faculty should be paid between the rates of high school teachers and university professors.

The increase offered by the colleges would see high school teachers' pay creeping above college teachers during the course of the contract.

Other issues include benefits and staffing questions.

"The strong strike vote will let the bargaining team go back to the table between now and March 3 with the power to negotiate a fair settlement," said Ted Montgomery of Local 560 (Seneca College faculty), chair of the union
bargaining team.

"I hope that the employer will reflect on the scale of this strike mandate and be prepared to continue bargaining toward a reasonable and responsible settlement," Montgomery said.

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