TORONTO
– The Ontario Public
Service Employees Union
is calling for the 24
community colleges to
recognize OPSEU as the
union for 12,500
part-time workers.
OPSEU
now represents full-time
faculty and support
staff at the colleges.
In the largest
organizing drive in
Ontario history, the
part-time and sessional
employees are now
seeking to join OPSEU.
Most
part-time employees have
so far been excluded
from bargaining by the
Colleges Collective
Bargaining Act, but the
McGuinty government has
signaled that this could
soon change.
OPSEU
President Warren
(Smokey) Thomas wrote
today to the Colleges
Compensation and
Appointments Council
asking for a meeting to
kick-start a process
where part-time and
sessional employees
could bargain a
contract.
“It is
clear that the continued
statutory exclusion of
these employees from
collective bargaining is
unconstitutional,”
Thomas wrote.
“It is
also clear that the
part-time and sessional
college employees have
expressed a strong
desire to be represented
by OPSEU.”
