colleges

Saturday November 18, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday November 18, 2017

Will a lawsuit help Ontario students get their money back after college strike?

Frustrated and financially burdened students affected by the Ontario colleges strike are turning to the courts to try to get some cash back.

A class action was commenced on Tuesday that seeks to recover tuition money on behalf of the thousands of students at 24 colleges who have been out of class since mid-October.

Going down the lawsuit road could be a long and ultimately unsuccessful journey, but there could still be some benefits to it in the short term, say class action experts.

Pressure on the Ontario government to step in and force an end to the strike, now in its fifth week, ramped up Thursday when the latest contract offer from the College Employer Council was rejected by striking faculty, represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Premier Kathleen Wynne met with representatives from both sides on Thursday afternoon, and several hours later her government announced it would introduce legislation to force them into binding arbitration and end the strike. The premier said she wants to see students back in class by Monday morning.

This will be the longest college strike in Ontario’s history, and students have been demanding tuition refunds since it began. A petition they started says full-time students are owed $30 per day of the strike based on the average tuition cost per semester. (Source: CBC) 

 

Wednesday November 8, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 8, 2017

Fourth week of Ontario college strike

The union representing striking Ontario college workers says students would soon be on their way back to classes, if the colleges hadn’t left the bargaining table this week.

The Ontario Public Sector Employees Union, representing the 12,000 college workers, held a press conference Tuesday afternoon — one day after colleges called for striking faculty to vote on a final contract offer.

Warren “Smokey” Thomas, president of OPSEU, said the union believed a deal was close after negotiations continued over the weekend.

“Then Monday morning, without any notice to us, the government dropped the bombshell of saying they were going to ask the Ministry of Labour to conduct a vote, which they get to do once during the bargaining cycle,” Thomas said to reporters at the Chelsea Hotel in downtown Toronto.  

The College Employer Council, which represents the province’s 24 colleges, asked Ontario’s Labour Relations Board Monday to schedule the vote. It also called on OPSEU to suspend the strike in the five to 10 days it will take to organize the vote.

“We made significant moves to address all of their issues,” said Sonia Del Missier, chair of the colleges’ bargaining team, on Monday. “That offer should have been accepted.”

At Tuesday’s press conference, the union maintained it would advise members to vote no.

“I thought we were close to a deal,” Thomas told reporters. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Thursday May 24, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Thursday May 24, 2012

Occupy Montreal movement joins Quebec student protesters

Occupy Montreal has passed to the next level.

Thanks to the student protests, organizers say the movement now occupies the city in a way it never dreamed before – every day and every night.

“Participants in Occupy Montreal have been helping out with the student protests since the beginning of the strike,” said Paul Bode, 31, an Occupy activist who has a long association with the movement.

“It’s a common cause, and we’re happy to go back and forth between the two,” said Bode, a Westmount-raised community activist who teaches English, works in construction and lives in St. Henri.

“But in fact, we view Occupy Montreal as a verb, right? And basically, right now the students are occupying Montreal, and we’re helping out with that,” he added before heading out to join Tuesday’s march at Place des Festivals.

So does that make Occupy itself a bit redundant?

Not at all. It means the movement can now shift its focus away from downtown, Bode and other organizers say.

Instead of squatting in Montreal’s financial district for weeks like it did before being evicted last fall – and did again for a few days earlier this month, minus any overnight stays – Occupy activists will target Montreal’s boroughs over several weekends this summer.

In each instance, their occupation will serve to highlight a local issue, such as social inequality, and to “act locally.” First up: a neighborhood of the Plateau Mont-Royal in June. (Source: Montreal Gazette)

 

Friday May 18, 2012

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Friday May 18, 2012

Charest suspends classes in response to strikes

The Charest government, abandoning any hope of negotiating a settlement with striking students, announced it is suspending classes in colleges and universities where students are still on strike.

The move will mean that students in affected institutions will not lose their session, but will be able to complete it starting in August, with the next school year beginning in October, Premier Jean Charest said.

He added that it was time to take “a pause” to reduce tensions and allow for a more appropriate learning climate.

“We need to bring down the pressure where strikes are still on. We need to bring back social peace,” Mr. Charest said.

The move affects 14 of the 48 colleges where student strikes have closed down schools, as well as certain faculties and departments in 11 of the 18 universities affected by the strike.

But Mr. Charest made it clear he was not backing away from the planned tuition fee hike for this fall and promised a tougher approach to ensure classes can resume in August, with stronger police intervention to guarantee access.

“No student will be forced to attend class. But for others, they have the right to attend classes in a secure environment,” he said.

“We cannot accept that access be blocked … we will not bow to violence and intimidation – our laws need to be obeyed.” (Source: Globe & Mail)