Welcome to our new CAAT Support staff blog! We are 8,000 members who work in 24 colleges throughout Ontario. As Chair of the CAAT Support Bargaining team, I bring greetings from the other team members as well. This round of bargaining has been a particularly difficult round, we’ve faced a new side of the employer that we have not seen, armed with new legislation, a new attitude after contract talks with the academics and a general unwillingness to bargain in good faith. The employer has taken every opportunity to interfere, co-erce and intimidate members.
This round of bargaining is not about us getting ahead, it is about us staying even. It’s about holding onto the job security, benefits and pay that others before us fought to get. It’s about keeping good jobs, not just for right now, but for the future. We care too much for our students and the future of Ontario to allow the workforce to be filled with jobs that are part time, insecure, and low paying.
We are encouraging students, parents and all Ontarians to ask, what kind of future do we want for our students and ourselves? Is the future we want for our students, one where we educate them and send them to a workforce filled with jobs that are part time, insecure, low paying, with little to no benefits? Is the future of Ontario one where we cannot have a decent life?
Every person in Ontario should have a good job. Everyone in Ontario should be fighting to get good jobs, fighting to keep good jobs and fighting back against those who would threaten good jobs and the future of Ontario.
Well said! We should all be ready to fight… Sept.1st
Break off talks right now until management is ready to bargain in good faith!
After doing my own comparison from the Sunshine Club to Niagara’s Shoeshine Club, we can’t afford not to stand our ground. I have two boy’s going to college this year, this isn’t just about me, what kind of jobs will they have when they have completed their college education?
I have worked for my school since 1990 and I find that jobs in my area is very hard to find, I want to keep mine til I retire which is another 13 more years, so yes it is very important to me, and it should be to all of you. Please lets all of us fight for our jobs, wages, vacations, and benefits.
It is unfortunate that the unions for full time support workers discriminates against part-time workers from getting full time jobs thru protectionist practices that only restricts jobs to members of their full time unions! This is a really shameful situation that is happening in 2011 not 1911. Fix this if you care about fairness for working men and women in Ontario. Simple test for all the full time cats. Talk is cheap – actions like getting part time workers to be able to access the full time opportunities will speak volumes.
Best of luck, we suspect your demands for more $$$, everything will get back to “normal”.
Actually, if you take the time to find out, your OPSEU union has been fighting for years to get part timers unionized and in fact the government has had the ballots from part-timers for years, but through their legal wrangling has managed to stall the count for over 2 years. Please check your facts before you condemn the people who are fighting to protect YOUR rights… http://opseu.org/caat/parttime/parttimeindex.htm.
Just does not seem right the government is not supporting their workers, their voters, members who are contributing to the province by not forcing the balletts to be counted.
How can the part-timers vote, and they sit in a box for 2 + years? Is this the Ontario we want? What protection or rights do us all have if the government does not care about peoples livelyhoods???
It’s not about the money, eventhough that’s not been presented at the table yet. We are concerned about “flexible” schedules, lack of job security, a two tier system and the ability to lay us off without pay when faculty go on strike, and if hired back – we start at the bottom of the ladder again in that two tiered system. What will that do for our pensions and seniority etc. IF we agreed to the former what’s the use of 2% or even 100% increase. If we don’t stand now, I shudder to think of the future…….
I’m glad you brought up the part-time workers. Did you know that your full-time counterparts through OPSEU have put in over 3 million dollars toward the part-time campaign trying to get part-time college support staff the right to unionize? I’m sorry you are placing the blame at the wrong feet.
I have worked for the college system since 1969. I had my “85″ factor almost 10 years ago but couldn’t take advantage of early retirement because unlike some of the private sector friends I have, we don’t get benefits for retirees. Oh, sure, I can purchase them at between $350 and $450 a month, but if I did that, I wouldn’t have much of a pension left to live on. My wife and I are both disabled and are our drug costs are between $750 and $1000 a month. Good thing I love my job, but they are trying to take that pride away from us too. I just bought a camp chair so that I will be able to sit on the line each day starting September 1st because it seems like the management team won’t becoming to their senses this round of bargaining so we will have to call their bluff once again.
In Solidarity, Al
For god’s sakes, retire already and let a younger person with a young family into the workforce! There are too many people clinging onto these good jobs who should retire. If you did the math, you wouldn’t be losing that much and there are GOVERNMENT programs for those who can’t afford drug costs. Give us a break and retire already.
You don’t understand what is happening and what is about to happen if Management gets thier way. If this person retires, there won’t be a full-time job with benefits for you to apply for. It will be turned into a job with reduced hours and a reduced pay rate. Think of it this way, the person who did the job before you would have been paid for alomst double what you will be making and they will have had more time to get it done in. Get informed! You should not have applied for a job in a unionized environment if you do not support the union!
Peter is correct and if Anonymous hopes to get a full time job or knows a younger person wanting a full time job in support staff, they better have a Masters or PHD!
Let’s all go back to work this week and work furiously to get get everything ready for Sept. start up, so all goes off without a hitch. That way our absence will go completely unnoticed. Right! Go back. Work according to the book. Take all breaks, lunch periods, and do your job to the letter. Follow exact protocal, observe all safety procedures[as if you wouldn't in the first place] be ridiculously detail oriented, in other words, do what you have to, and no more. Let’s show them how important we really are to the system. Thousands of students in each College are are ready to start up their academic year. They need to be processed, documented, and oriented. Who’ll do that? Management and Administration? I think not. They can barely tie their shoe laces without our help. FEEL EMPOWERED. WE MATTER. WE WILL BE RESPECTED. WE WILL PERSEVERE. WE ARE THE COG IN THE WHEEL. IT DOESN’T TURN WITHOUT US. STAND TALL BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
All OPSEU suppport staff members should update their Twitter and Facebook statuses with: Ontario college’s support staff most likely will be on strike September 1!
To get the word out we are serious about getting a collective bargaining agreement before end of August.
Our communities need good jobs!
To the gentleman who so rudely insulted administration… Yes, you are a cog in the wheel but you are not the only cog. Please be polite and remember that you all must coexist together.
Get with the times people. There is no such thing as job security in these tough times so stop holding the public hostage with your self centred strike mandates. How can you expect a part time teacher to be hired as a full time teacher when they only work part time, I mean really. Not something I want my tax dollars paying for. The last time you all went on strike, the students suffered big time. You wasted our time, money, and efforts. Many of us had to put our dreams on hold because of your insatious desire for more money, more holidays, and more benefits. Go work in the private sector and then try to wine like that and you’ll be on your ass before you can say, “please sir, can I have some more.”
Dear David: Please educate yourself…teachers are not part of support staff.
Get with the program, David. Get your facts straight before your jump all over us. Support staff has not been on strike since 1979! You are referring to faculty. I have worked in both the private and the public sector and both are treated the same — management always gets their just rewards at our expense. You sound young. I’ll bet that you’ll be the first to complain after you’ve worked for a few years. Good luck in your many part-time jobs in the future.
The last time Support Staff at the College’s were on strike was 32 years ago.
Faculty fully support you…stand tough…don’t fold like we did on some bullshit offer…hit the pavement until you get what you deserve…watch your part timers, they can turn the tide of a vote…get your message out…
Does fully support mean that faculty will not cross the picket line?
Faculty have no choice but to cross the picket lines. They have a separate contract. We crossed when they were out, and they respected us and understood.
I am a College Support Staff member and passionate about what I do. After 10+ years of experience I am disappointed I can’t move lateraly let alone up within my workplace. I have two Sheridan diplomas but they have no job oppoortunties for me to apply to. Even ones below my paygrade want university or 3 years College education. TWO diplomas is not good enough, even from them. So many of us at Sheridan are in the same situation. Our knowledge of the college’s polices, processes and our relevant skills are not valued.
Instead they go elsewhere to seek staff they will have to train even more.
Common Sense is needed!
Students, Parents, support your support staff who want you to have the best education, who want your diploma to mean something, and who to them their work is not just a paycheck but something they enjoy doing to help their community each day.
How can 0% be considered an “offer”. When did “nothing” suddenly become “something”.
Do your interests matter more than these students excited to start school in September? While I want to see everyone get a fair treatment, I don’t think going on strike and dashing the plans of students is a good idea. You are all being selfish; what if these were your kids who found out they might not be attending college right away in September? The attitude of this union and its members is appalling and self-centred, which I believe is contrary to the aims and goals of organized labour. Think of the impact you’re going to have. Simply warning students that the beginning of the school year is in jeopardy is a slap in the face. You’re making unreasonable demands from an institution that is partly funded by public monies. Please, for the sake of all the students, be reasonable for once!
Bill, the same can be said of management. In fact, support staff are willing to negotiate and bargain, unlike management who don’t even have the decency to show up at bargaining talks on time!
Bill, we are all about the students. We are the ones that students are in first contact with when they need any help. I’ve given out more change to students who are hungry. I’ve brought in baked goods on special days, to help them when they are feeling home sick. An ear when they just simply need to talk. I don’t get paid for that. It’s not even in my job description. I simply just care and I’m not alone.
It is our kids too.
“We care too much for our students and the future of Ontario to allow the workforce to be filled with jobs that are part time, insecure, and low paying.”
I could not believe I read this statement here. To set the record straight support staff of colleges in Ontario is nowhere near the “workforce”, you are simply 8000 employees. To say you care for the students is a laugh at this point. I am a student who has been following this situation pretty closly, I’ve read your early proposal and your demands are out of this world. You do deserve an increase depending on inflation but get your head out of the ground and remember that STUDENTS (the ones you care so deeply about) will be the ones paying the huge bill if you get your way.
On a side note it has already publicly been said that should you strike most colleges will continue classes… with or without you. This means that the college is still doing their job to the students by providing classes, but you people will now be withholding things like OSAP or course transfers.
Make real demands, then you might be heard.
Dear Student:
It’s easy to judge when you are not in a particular situation. I too am against striking and would prefer not to (like most of us) but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary. If we don’t strike now and maintain our wages and benefits, when it’s time for you to get a job you will be hired at a much lower rate of pay and no benefits. You will need two or more jobs just to support your family. As for OSAP, you can go to the colleges now to pick up your documents.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do with your education.
Hello
Students will not be paying a huge bill , Colleges have money , the renovations ,
upgrades , new computer systems upgrades that go on all the time cost millions upon millions of dollars that they do have !! they have money to pay themselves generously , for big bonuses , yes there is enough money to go around for that.
Do you think that 3% raise is out of this world ? then it is you that needs the reality check , the cost of living are skyrocketing,raising cost of gas ,raising cost of food , HTS , inflation,this 3% a year will keep afloat , maybe just barley,
as a single mom I am not looking forward to strike action at all but if I have to fight for what is right for me and for your future I will !!
Yes the colleges have moeny, but that money doesnt just appear. Overpriced education and tax dollars pay that money and with they way things are goin the tax payers wont be paying for your increase, the students will be by more tuition increases. 3% raise? Thats no where close to what you are asking for. 3% raise is easy to accomplish. Im talking bout all the other demands. Dont get me wrong some of them are fair and just but you need to be reasonable aswell. How bout instead of striking and jeprodizing the school year just to get your way, you petition that a salary cap be put on these big executives you say hog all the money. Goin that route would make it so you stop whining about their salary and also save the tuition increase on the students that you “care” so much about.
Dear Student,
You think that us asking for a salary cap would really work? Really? Get your head out of the clouds. Also if you knew anything about Negotiations it is a give and take, all the things we are asking for we know we will not get but they are things that we can take away in exchange for what we really need.
A salary cap was a suggestion not the only option. By saying your are held strong on your requests doesnt speak to what you just posted. If you know you wont get some things stop being greedy and get them off the table. A resolution needs to happen and with the union trying to suck as much as they can it will go slow. My head is out of the clouds and here on the ground biting my nails waiting to see how much more money I have to pay after this is all over.
FYI, Management within the college system receive bonuses every year on top of their 100k plus salaries. Why is this fact never brought forward to the public in the hopes of having full transparency of how our educational system works, we all speak of fair treatment, does not exist within college education in Ontario.
I work am administration at an Ontario college. We don’t get bonuses. AT ALL. This is vicious rumor that has been circling for years. It’s not true.
That is not true. At Algonquin the bonuses are quite substantial.
Either you are very low on the admin totem poll and don’t get a piece of the pie or you don’t realize that the “incentive” paid to admin staff every year would actually be called a bonus by most people.
Our president of our college was paid more that the president of the United States! Forget the bonuses.
Bonus structure is very real, I have seen 25 to 60 k, depending on position.
It is about time this real fact of tax payer supported bonus programs are published.
Where is OPSEU on this known fact.
I’m sick and tired of support staff and faculty being tagged as the problem children of education.
Time to take off the kid gloves OPSEU, get serious about proper representation of your charges.
Educate the public,
Please.
What’s happening????? I know no news is good news, but it would be nice to know what is happening….
Agreed. The waiting for any kind of news is agonizing. Too bad our reps don’t give updates as the bargaining day ends.
A better Ontario works FULL-TIME!!
Good jobs with good futures for workers of today and the future workers of tomorrow.
That’s why I’m prepared to walk the line. We need to fight not just for today but to ensure that workers in the future have rights, good jobs, job security and decent pensions.
Job security is the number one thing that we all need for the future. I will be picketing to show management and administration that the college will not function without its support staff !!!! United We STAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good jobs with good futures for workers of today and the future workers of tomorrow.
That’s why I’m prepared to walk the line. We need to fight not just for today but to ensure that workers in the future have rights, good jobs, job security and decent pensions.
If the grammar and spelling of some of the commenters is any indication, some of these people should not be allowed near any educational institutions, save as a student.
I’m having a hard time getting excited about this strike. I’m a part-time support staff employee. I’m not allowed to be in the union. There was a vote years ago, and no one is counting ballots. I’m not actually aware of any recent efforts to get the ballots counted, either.
In other words, the only way this affects me is this: I get a bunch of questions from friends asking if I’m going on strike, and I have to tell them “No. I’m so f**king low on the totem pole that I’m not even permitted to be in the union. There was some movement that way, but that was years ago, and nothing has happened since.”
Is financial aid part of the support staff?
Yes – Support staff work in financial aid
Please support our Colleges. Our young people deserve good educations. Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders.
Now that the rhetoric is starting to increase, it is high time for people to come to their senses. Management and OPSEU have failed us so far. Both sides are showing signs of weakness, alzheimer’s disease, or low intelligence. After wasting the last few months blowing hot air and taking in too much sun, we are no further ahead. Maybe next time the Province will allow only 3 weeks instead of 3 months to negotiate a deal between parties. If the existing teams are unable to negotiate, they should be replaced. Binding arbitration is our only hope. I still will hope for a settlement in this case and will not let this bunch of imbeciles ruin my weekend. These people should be locked up in some room with sufficient sleeping bags , food, and other necessities that my arise. We’ll be paying for it anyways. Get back to the table and figure out a settlement for this round. The people of Ontario do not need to hear anymore verbal abuse.
What no one is saying is that Colleg management wants to be able to lay off Support Staff in the event of a Faculty Strike.
We are two separate unions for a reason. How devestating would it be that you should be layed off because someone else is unable to negotiate a settlement.
Cripes! What is the world coming to?
I take issue with the statement made by Gerry Barker, chair of the colleges’ bargaining team regarding his statement with respect to the wage increase (or joke of an increase offered) in the news release “It reflects the realities of the current constrained economic environment and is in line with the pattern of recent settlements within the broader public sector.” I know for a fact that the City of Toront’s police services were recently awarded 11.5% over their four-year contract. They settled their contract in May of this year. Has something happened in the last four months to dictate that we should receive not even half that amount over three years? Should we accept 3.75% when people who make much more than we do are receiving raises of 3+% annuallly? If we accept this ridiculous wage increase, we will barely keep up with the cost of living. I understand now why our college support staff feel that management don’t treat us with respect. This offer is an insult to our intelligence!
Strikes hurt for everyone, students, management, workers, but where would be today with out them. Oh yeah , I know, just where they want us, low pay, low hours, no or little benefits, right where they are trying to steer us now.
Hang in there and my thanks go out to all of you for doing your part in keeping good paying jobs for good people who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.
Just a note to all those folks who are not unionized that feel the need to knock union workers. try to remember , if it weren’t for the unions , you would be working 60 hrs a week for next to nothing , with constant abuse, no health and safety etc. just be happy that unions dictate the rate of pay, hours of work etc for all of us including the private sector . in SOLIDARITY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Right on Brother you made me feel better thanks for the support
Important issues require serious action. We are prepared to take action because the issues in question ARE imortant.
Important issues require serious action. We will prepare for serious action as the issues in question ARE very important.
Management of Aug 25 is correct….I am in administration and have not received an increase or “bonus” since 2009…..had I stayed as support staff, I would be making more by now. We should all be thankful we have better pay, benefits and vacation….more than we would get in the “real world”.
I believe paybands in the Management System below 10 get no bonus. The Prez takes his, gives the rest to the VPs, the VPs take their cut and then give the rest to their deans, the Deans take their cut and divide the rest to their chairs depending on how active they were in helping said person get a higher % increase to their annual salary. That is almost how it works. Low level mini managers do not get anything. Most of the managers at the lower level are actually doing support staff type work.
I have been at the college for 32 years, I have seen the progression of pocket lining with tax dollars over the years.
Our President, at Algonquin, has a bonus equal to more than the average support staff salary. Who is the probelm here? Who is disrespecting the students and the tax payers? The problem is not the unionized employees in the colleges. Management take the bigger piece of our education tax dollars.
That is correct, I agreed with you Management.
Honestly – “the real world”???? I don’t know what kind of job you have, but I consider my job as a support staff employee to be part of the “real world” and I don’t think I need to be “thankful” to have a job. This is the kind of thing that somebody says who is not qualified for their position. If you are properly qualified for your position, then it is the college who should be “thankful” to have you as an employee.
As for your comment about bonuses – I can 100% guarantee that admin staff received a “performance incentive payment” each year during this wage freeze. Although there is a chance you may not even know about this incentive because it is not evenly distributed amongst admin and given you are just “thankful” to have a job, it’s likely that you fly below the radar and don’t catch a share of this incentive.
I’m NOT in support of walking the pavement for “future employees”. This is speculative nonsense. When employees of the future want to fight for their rights, let them. Currently, I pay dues as do my fellow employees for a current contract and the union should be bargaining for those of us that pay dues. Period. Everyone loses in a strike – always.
I agree our representative at the barganing table should go at the table with a positive attitude and negotiate. Interesting that the union’s comment on the news is not positive while management is.
Stand firm brothers @ sisters. My unioun and fellow members got me my great pension pakage and a wage that afforded me to educate my children.
It all boils down to this: When you run a college like a business, you forget that a college education is an investment in the province’s future. When you continue to increase enrollment but do not increase the resources for example. support staff, faculty, physical and informatics resources, people become overworked and frustrated. Staff and faculty are having to do so much more with less because upper (and I do mean upper) are making fat bonuses off of the backs of those of us who continue to slog it out in the trenches to make the college presidents, vice presidents and deans look good. The “four pillars” that Algonquin College continues to quote to all are Learning, Caring, Integrity and Respect. Hopefully, we may come to a real understanding of what that means. Will the management of our colleges learn that a little careing about our self respect will result in a fair deal which will allow us to return to work with integrity and with our heads held high? Let’s hope so, for all cncerned.
Good luck my friends,
I hope both sides get back to the bargaining table soon. At my college, I just heard about them increasing part-time hours to cover me while I am on strike. They are doing this in all other departments as well. If management keep doing this, we will be off until Christmas. I want to get back to work.
does anyone know when we have to be down town in Ottawa for the Labour Day parade, I understand this year we are walking in front. As well as where do we meet at.
My husband was employed with Algonquin for many years and not long before the strike they disposed of him. The union in my eyes is getting weaker and the college is not going to bend as easy as they did in the past. Good luck to all support workers, I hope for all of you the strike ends soon.
Get a load of this. Yesterday, our president Howard Rundle told the media we were “very far apart”. On September 7, he told our local TV station we were NOT far apart. Here’s the video to prove it. That was probably before he got the College Emplyer Council’s talking points. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsWCTLf1HQM&feature=youtu.be