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Sault College students fear losing their semester; colleges and union to return to bargaining table (3 photos)

Faculty strike in its third week; some students support their instructors, but are eager to get back to class

Even though Ontario’s community colleges and striking OPSEU-represented college faculty members agreed to return to the bargaining table Thursday, Sault College students, like their peers across the province, have been worried about losing their semesters as the strike is now in its third week. 

Karan Sharma, an international student from India, is now in his second year of Forestry studies at Sault College.

“I was supposed to graduate in December but due to the strike I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sharma told SooToday Wednesday.

“It was fine for the first couple of days, but then I thought ‘I’m here for my studies and I can’t do them.’ I needed help with some of the work but I can’t talk to my teachers or email them. The LMS (Learning Management System, available electronically) is still open, so I’m doing things as best I can.”

“If it goes on much longer it will affect my year and my student visa expires in March 2018,” Sharma said.

“It’s frustrating,” Sharma said, though he added he is in favour of the faculty in the current dispute.

OPSEU-represented faculty at Ontario’s 24 community colleges went on strike Oct. 16, demanding an even ratio in the number of full-time faculty to the number of faculty members on contract, and more job security for part-time faculty.

The College Employer Council, representing Ontario’s colleges, feels those demands are too costly and offered faculty members a 7.75 per cent pay raise over the next four years. 

Despite being told previous college faculty strikes have lasted no longer than three weeks, Marcie Tremblay, a Sault College Personal Support Worker (PSW) program student and Sault resident, said she remains concerned.

“That’s in previous years. This is today, this is now, and different circumstances more than likely,” Tremblay said, who added she had made several adjustments to her life in order to attend college, including making arrangements with her employer to work a lesser amount of hours once classes started in September.

“I was pretty annoyed at first (when faculty went on strike) because I had made a career plan and I thought I might lose this semester and be held back (as the strike entered its third week).”

“We’re supposed to start our clinicals (community placements) next week and now they’re going to be pushed back. I’m still going to get the education I paid for, but this is not what I planned for.”

Tremblay said she is continuing to keep up with her schoolwork to be prepared if faculty and management reach an agreement and classes suddenly resume, and is encouraging others to do the same.

“I understand where the teachers are coming from…but at the same time I feel they don’t care about the students they’re teaching.”

“I thought the colleges offered them a good compromise so I was upset when they still turned them down.”

Peer tutoring is available for several programs while the strike continues.

Michelle Withers, Alexis Inch and Tabitha Hagen, third year students in the college’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, are also among those who want to see instructors back to work and wish to return to their classrooms.

“I do support the faculty, but it is difficult in a student’s situation,” Withers said.

“Now that it’s in the third week, once we are back at school, we’re going to be pushed back and required to make up quite a bit of time, which is pretty stressful when you’re a nursing student because there is a number of clinical hours that are required and now we have to somehow push all that together and finish our semester somehow,” Withers said.

“Nobody knows how long it’s going to last, nobody knows what exactly is expected of us, are we expected to restart the semester when the strike ends?” Inch said, adding she thinks some of the faculty’s demands are “outrageous.”

“We have been paying for our semester, we’ve purchased our books and working hard, but we’re still in limbo…we have peer support (as the instructors aren’t present), but we’re expected to teach ourselves right now,” Hagen said.

“I thought ‘couldn’t they (the faculty) have graciously accepted the seven per cent,’ because we’re paying more than enough money for an education.”

“We spent, on average, $8,000 just for tuition alone, without books, books were $600 and some of them were used, but the first and second year nursing students are paying up to $900 a semester just for books, then there’s all their medical supplies, parking fees at the college (and at the hospital during placements)…I agree with Alexis, some of the demands are unrealistic, some of them aren’t (such as calls for more job security).”

“It’s been three weeks, something has to happen,” Hagen said.

The three nursing students are locals, and expressed sympathy for out of town and international students who have travelled to Sault College for an education.

Jonathan Nolan, a College Student Alliance director at Sault College, planned on taking part in a CSA rally in Toronto Wednesday to urge the two sides to get back to the table.

Tiffany Agliani, Sault College Student Union (SCSU) president, said her group has not aligned itself with the colleges or faculty, but simply wants the two sides to reach an agreement and is hopeful one can be reached soon.

In a news release issued Wednesday, the College Employer Council, representing Ontario’s colleges, stated “Ontario colleges have asked the provincially appointed mediator to bring the colleges and OPSEU Academic back to the table to resume bargaining on Thursday, Nov. 2.”

“This strike has gone on for too long. We need to end the strike and get our students and faculty back in the classroom. We can reach a settlement quickly and have classes start again early next week,” said Sonia Del Missier, Colleges Bargaining Team chair. 

“We will focus our efforts at the table and work very hard to reach a deal that ends the strike,” the news release stated.

 


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Darren Taylor

About the Author: Darren Taylor

Darren Taylor is a news reporter and photographer in Sault Ste Marie. He regularly covers community events, political announcements and numerous board meetings. With a background in broadcast journalism, Darren has worked in the media since 1996.
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