A pair of OPSEU employees at Belleville’s Loyalist College (Photo: John Spitters/ Quinte News)
Faculty at Ontario’s colleges, including at Loyalist College, who have been on strike for about a month begin voting today on a contract offer.
Some 12,000 Ontario college professors, instructors, counsellors, and librarians haven’t been at work since Oct. 15, leaving hundreds of thousands of students out of class.
The College Employer Council asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to schedule a vote on the offer it has put on the table, accusing the Ontario Public Service Employees Union of misrepresenting it.
The colleges say the offer includes a 7.75 per cent salary increase over four years, improved benefits and addresses concerns about part-time faculty, but the union says it contains concessions that were not agreed to and is recommending its members reject the offer.
Voting is taking place starting today and closing at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
In the meantime, the provincial government has ordered the colleges to create a fund to help students who may be experiencing financial hardship because of the strike.
