Uncertainty surrounds college semester in Ontario as strike deadline looms [Video]

Students at Ontario’s 24 public colleges are beginning their winter semester under the cloud of a potential strike.

The union representing full-time faculty, partial-load contract faculty, librarians and counsellors could begin job action as soon as Thursday, Jan. 9.

“Our workload methodology and assignment of workload and resources is truly 40 years out of date,” said Leopold Koff, the president of OPSEU CAAT-A Local 237, which represents staff at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont.

Negotiations between OPSEU CAAT-A and the College Employer Council have been going on since the summer.

A major sticking point is changing the expectations around workload.

Koff said the current framework does not take into consideration technology, new demands, standards, degrees or research.

According to the College Employer Council, the union is asking for a 25 per cent reduction in teaching time to fewer than, on average, nine hours a week.

JP Hornick, OPSEU’s president, said …