Ontario college faculty union issues strike notice [Video]

Ontario college students could soon see their winter semester cut short as the union representing faculty at the province’s 24 public colleges could walk off the job as early as Thursday next week.

On Friday, college faculty represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) gave their five-day strike notice.

The union, which represents about 15,000 full-time and part-time professors and instructors, as well as counsellors and librarians, claimed that the colleges’ current offer “would leave us worse off than our now three-month expired agreement.”

They have been without a collective agreement since September.

Ravi Ramkissoonsingh, a member of OPSEU’s bargaining, told CP24 Friday night that the union was hoping the strike notice would put pressure on the colleges to take bargaining seriously.

“We’ve been in bargaining since mid-July and, you know, really have made very little progress with the employer. It’s been a very long, difficult process, and the two sides are quite far apart,” Ramkissoonsingh said.

“In our view, really, the …