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Fairness and solidarity rally planned for local college students

This rally is your chance to add your voice and to show support for Sault College faculty
20171016-Sault College strike-DT-05
Striking college workers picket outside Sault College on October 16. Darren Taylor/SooToday

NEWS RELEASE

OPSEU LOCAL 613

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It is time for Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma residents to take a stand for a better model of post-secondary education that puts students first! Please join OPSEU Local 613, Labour Council and other members of our community on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 at noon.

OPSEU 613, the local union representing faculty and counsellors at Sault College, invite you to come out and make your voice heard! All students, families, and members of the public are urged to attend.

College faculty across the province have been calling for fairness in order to improve the experience of hundreds of thousands of students.

From 12 p.m. – 2 p.m., OPSEU 613 will host a rally at the OPSEU local office (154 Great Northern Rd.) featuring key speakers as well as a free barbecue lunch and a walk joining the faculty on the picket line in solidarity.

This rally is your chance to add your voice and to show support for Sault College faculty as they fight to improve the quality of post-secondary education. Stand up against College Administration/Council vision of cutting costs by relying on underpaid, contract part time faculty with no job security semester to semester and little or no benefits.

Provincially, 30 per cent of faculty are full time and 70 per cent are contract faculty. This is precarious work is epidemic in our college system and around the world.

All people deserve a stable job, with fair pay and basic job security! Our faculty, students and the next generation, deserve better. As Martin Luther King stated, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.

“It is unfortunate that we cannot be in the classroom with our students at this time, yet we must take a stand for equity in our workplace and quality education for our student,” says Frank Turco, OPSEU 613 Local president.

Attendees of Thursday’s rally are encouraged to park at Holy Trinity Church (352 Northern Ave.) or United Baptist Church (41 Malabar Dr.). Those with mobility concerns are encouraged to park in the front lot of OPSEU’s local office, 154 Great Northern Rd.

For more information about the key issues of this strike action, visit collegefaculty.org or follow #standwithfaculty.

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