Things looked promising last weekend for striking support staff and college administration representatives — until they weren’t.
With the two sides back at odds, striking staff are still out picketing at Niagara College’s Niagara-on-the-Lake campus this week.
The College Employer Council and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union entered mediation on Friday. Both sides said they made progress over the weekend, but a media blackout during negotiations limited updates.
The council expected one day of talks, but multiple days followed because discussions went well.
Bob Holder, president of Local 243 representing Niagara College and a member of the union’s bargaining team, said they presented seven proposals.
Graham Lloyd, CEO of College Employer Council, said they offered a “comprehensive package” on Sunday that they believed could settle the dispute.
“We thought we were very close to a negotiated agreement,” Lloyd said.
However, an impasse over job security ended negotiations.
The union began talks with four non-negotiable demands, then dropped two: a freeze on all staff reductions for at least three years and no campus closures or mergers for the same period.
However, it’s maintaining the other two demands: a ban on contracting out unless approved by the union and wanting only support staff workers to perform support staff work.
The council called the second demand a “restriction on collaborative work, that would hinder service delivery to students and grind operations to a halt.”
“The colleges were not willing to move on job security,” Holder said.
The College Employer Council calls these demands “poison pills” it cannot accept.
The strike’s practical impact is clear to people like Dave Mandula, an information technology worker who has picketed daily since the strike began Sept. 11.
He initially drove a shuttle for picketers with mobility issues before becoming a picket captain. Mandula supports the union’s stance.
“Negotiations did go fairly well for the first part of the weekend,” he said. “We are close on all our issues except job security … being the most important one. What good is a contract if the next day you get laid off?”
Mandula said morale remains good, but noted that the low strike pay and lack of amenities like portable toilets make the wait difficult.
“It’s not easy to be on a picket line,” he said.
Lloyd said he didn’t know the strike’s exact cost but acknowledged it is affecting students’ college experience.
“They’re very important employees that do very important work,” he said.
Holder said, “We have no prognosis” on how long the strike will last.
