Ontario College Staff Strike Over Job Security, Dalhousie Faculty Lockout

More than 10,000 full-time college support staff across Ontario have initiated a strike as of September 11, 2023, driven by ongoing concerns over underfunding and job security. Represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), the striking workers are demanding measures to protect their jobs amid a backdrop of significant job losses, with the sector reportedly experiencing 10,000 job cuts in the past year.

Christine Kelsey, Chair of OPSEU’s college support bargaining team, emphasized the critical nature of job security for both staff and students. “With our colleges plunged into chaos, job security is key to stabilizing the system – because the future of our work is the future of student support,” she stated. OPSEU has also raised concerns about the Ontario Skills Development Fund, which allocates taxpayer money to non-college training providers. Since 2020, Premier Doug Ford has committed $2.5 billion to this fund, which now exceeds the operating funding gap that colleges are facing.

“The issue is no longer about the availability of funds; it’s about where that money is directed,” said OPSEU President JP Hornick. He pointed out that as the conflict escalates, taxpayers will have pressing questions, particularly as job opportunities dwindle and educational options for students diminish.

The funding crisis in Ontario is mirrored in Nova Scotia, where faculty at Dalhousie University faced a lockout from August 20 until a tentative agreement was reached on September 16, 2023. This agreement is pending a vote by the Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA), with no dates announced for ratification. The lockout highlights broader systemic issues impacting post-secondary education across Canada.

David Robinson, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), remarked that provincial governments have continually underfunded post-secondary education, leading to deteriorating working conditions for faculty. The Dalhousie board of governors initiated the lockout citing an inability to meet wage demands, which the faculty association claims are essential to combat inflation and address a 9 percent loss in real wages over the past decade.

DFA President David Westwood noted, “We are also fighting to keep full-time jobs from being converted to sessional contracts.” He indicated that without faculty pushback, the Board’s proposals would have jeopardized the job security of 76 members.

Robinson pointed out that the issues of wage stagnation and increased reliance on precarious contracts are not isolated to Dalhousie but are pervasive across Canadian universities. “It’s the old story of austerity. Faculty are being asked to do more and more with less and less,” he stated, warning that this trend jeopardizes the quality of education for students.

The funding challenges faced by colleges and universities had largely gone unnoticed while provinces capitalized on the enrollment of international students. However, last year’s cap on these enrollments has made the underlying funding deficiencies evident. Robinson remarked, “We’re faced with what the underlying problem was: governments simply were not sufficiently funding public post-secondary education.”

As OPSEU college workers continue their fight for job security, CAUT has expressed solidarity with them. Robinson emphasized that the struggles at Dalhousie and other institutions reflect a collective attempt by faculty to address the decline in educational quality due to inadequate funding. “What’s happening is that faculty are trying as best they can to raise concerns about how the quality of education has really suffered because of lack of public funding,” he said.

As the situation unfolds in Ontario and Nova Scotia, Robinson calls for public support for both faculty and students. He argues that in the face of various global challenges, including economic uncertainties and climate crises, a well-funded and robust education system is essential for progress. “There is a strong economic argument to be made that a robust, independent, autonomous, well-funded post-secondary education system is absolutely vital to helping us,” Robinson concluded.