Ontario college faculty vote 79% in favour of strike mandate [Video]

Faculty at Ontario’s two dozen public colleges, including Sheridan College in Mississauga, Brampton and Oakville, have voted in favour of a strike mandate.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board announced Friday that a record turnout of 11,484 members (76.1 per cent) voted 79 per cent in favour of walking out if a new contract can’t be worked out.

Contract negotiations between the OPSEU College Faculty Bargaining Team, which represents full-time and partial-load professors and instructors, counsellors, and librarians, and the College Employer Council have been ongoing since July 15.

Faculty tabled their proposals early last month.

“We’ve delivered a strike mandate authorized by a clear majority of all college faculty,” said the OPSEU faculty bargaining team. “As the bargaining team for faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges, we’ll utilize this mandate to reinforce our key demands and fight back serious concessions tabled by the College Employer Council that would make our working conditions, and by extension the students’ …