College faculty union talks not just about finances, but principles, say officials

By Sam Normand

The upcoming contract negotiations between the Ontario Public Employees Union and the provincial government are not just about money, say local OPSEU officials.

The current two-year contract expires August 31.

Representatives from colleges and universities across Ontario met last weekend to establish their demands in the upcoming negotiations. However, with Ontario’s current $16 billion dollar deficit, local OSPEU 420 vice-president Pat Dockrill said that demand cost was a major factor in deciding what to present at negotiations.

“We want to make sure we maintain our union principles, our education principle, those kinds of things. So that when we’re making a demand we’re aware of those costs,” she said. “These things cost money, you know? That we be aware of that when we’re going in. Some of our issues are cost free, but they’re principles. They’re principles of academic freedom.”

OPSEU 420 president Bernard Belanger said that the union is primarily concerned with issues regarding workload, class sizes, and job security. He said that the union closely monitors any changes to the contracts, as even slight changes can have consequences.

“Changing a word in the collective agreement might mean nothing to you, but it might have far reaching affects,” said Belanger. “There was that sort of thing going on. And knowing that the province is not in really great fiscal shape, we didn’t say, you know, ‘We want a 10 per cent raise.’”

Representatives from colleges and universities across Ontario will meet with their counterparts at the College Compensation and Appointments Council in June. Council officials were unavailable for comment.

Dockrill said that the union is trying to be realistic. However, Belanger said that they would take a hard line stance if the College Compensation and Appointments Council, their government counterparts, attempt to take pay away from them.

Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s austerity budget, announced March 29 is causing concern among OPSEU officials, as it calls for wage freezes to the salaries of 1.2 million public servants. The plan has evoked strong responses from the heads of both OPSEU and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

“Look, a child-care worker that makes $28,000 a year, a school board secretary that makes $35,000, these are not the people on the backs of which we should balance the budget,” said Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario in a recent interview with the Toronto Star.

Warren “Smokey” Thomas, president of OPSEU wrote in a recent letter on OPSEU’s website to NDP leader Andrea Horwath of Dwight Duncan’s division of “Haves” and “Have nots.”

“We are prepared to address this challenge when and if confronted by it. (Duncan’s) Herculean effort to demonize organized labour and working people throughout this province will not go unanswered,” said Thomas in the letter. “The labour movement with its community partners and allies will fight back. We will fight smart and destroy their propaganda with truth. We know that truth always wins out.”