IMPORTANT STRIKE UPDATE FOR ALL MEMBERS
Hello to the intrepid members of OPSEU Local 240 – Mohawk College Faculty.
You should all be proud for walking the walk and getting through the first week on strike! This is a challenging situation for all of us, and to see our colleagues rise to the occasion has been amazing. We’re solid, we’ve learned a lot from the first week, and we’re going to see this through.
First, as a general message to all members, we need to re-affirm that all teaching activities and all academic contact with students must stop. To continue this work is to gravely weaken the faculty position, to prolong the strike, and to jeopardize our ability to win it. Trust me, we understand the desire to continue to help students online, but this is counter to our interests and to theirs.
Last week the picket captains and local executive committee (LEC) met do discuss the strike and how it is progressing. Our focus was on two things:
1)How to keep our members safe during the strike
2)How to ensure the strike is successful and that we do our part at Mohawk to win this province-wide action
The Because the three sites we are picketing at are all very different, the LEC and picket captains have come up with strike protocols for each site.
Fennell
1)Safety has been a real issue at the Fennell campus intersections, and the LEC has heard this concern loud and clear. The willingness of some people to run their cars through our picket lines has shocked us all. Starting on Monday, the intersections at Fennell & Governors and West 5th Governors will have barricades that close off the entire intersection. These should eliminate cars trying to run the line, and will make it safe to picket in the intersection. The LEC would like to apologize for not having these barricades earlier. They seem to be sold out at all Hamilton rental stores, so Local 240 treasurer Gaspare Bonomo finally had to build them. This is just another example of Gaspare going above and beyond in this strike, and we appreciate it immensely.
2)The Executive will be putting out a call to members at Fennell asking them to do the majority of their picketing at the intersection they signed up for. This is to ensure that intersections have enough people at them. This improves safety for all picketers, and also enables us to fulfill our mandate of talking with everyone who comes on campus and giving them our flyers. These conversations have been really important, and have led to numerous "conversions". We also need to find more "talkers" - people willing to flyer, to talk to cars, and to explain why we're out.
3)Picketers at Fennell can still take a long walk or breaks during their shift. We just ask that the majority of their time be spent supporting one of the three intersection lines. As well, picket captains will be asking picketers at their intersection to check in and out when leaving the line for a long walk or for a break.
4)Picketers at Fennell CAN purchase coffee or snacks from the Student Centre. However, it is important that you come outside immediately after your purchase. Members can’t take breaks in the Student Centre, as this violates our agreement with the College. Please don’t be the person that gets washroom and parking access revoked for everyone. Go to the washroom, get your coffee, then get back out to the lines.
5)On the issue of food, we’ve also been upping our game. Regular food and drink deliveries will continue for each shift at each line at Fennell, including pizza deliveries at 11am and 2pm. Watch for more fun snacks as the week progresses!
6)We are also asking more people at Fennell to take the afternoon shift. We have about twice the numbers in the morning as the afternoon, and the afternoon lines are getting way too thin. Please consider making this shift if you are able!
IAHS
1)Things
2)Stuff
Stoney Creek
1)Things
2)Stuff
Why Are We Striking / Why Are We Picketing / How Do We Win This?
For a number of us, this is our first strike, and the whole procedure can seem frustrating and downright bizarre. Here are some things to remember:
First, 12,000 of your colleagues across the province are taking a historic stand for the rights of contract faculty, for a stable complement of full time faculty, and for increased faculty voice in academic decision-making. College faculty have been told by our colleagues in elementary schools and universities province-wide that our struggle is their struggle, and that we are leading the way on these important issues. We have to realize that we are not alone in this, and that what we are fighting for will greatly improve the system that we will work in now, and that we will leave to the next generation.
We are striking because that is how labour relations work in Canada, and in most other democratic countries. The last thing we can do in the face of an employer that refuses to make necessary changes to our work is to withhold our labour. We never do this willingly, but the three strikes we have been on have given us:
1)The Standard Workload Form (SWF). Before the SWF faculty would routinely be given over 20 contact hours per week. The SWF is the envy of many other post-secondary faculties, and was only won through the strike of 1984.
2)Wages set between highschool teachers and university professors. The strike of 1989 produced a Wages and Benefits Taskforce that set our wage rate and led to significant wage increases for years, and to important improvements in benefits.
3)Additional complementary time. The strike of 2006 gave faculty an additional complementary hour, above-inflation increases to wages, and a Workload Taskforce.
We are engaging in an information picket in order to get the word out about our issues, to show our employer our resolve, and to disrupt the regular operation of the colleges. The pressure that a picket causes is a key lever that gets the employer back to the bargaining table. We are not blocking traffic. We are merely slowing them down for a few minutes, talking with them, and handing them some literature. We have to realize that we are doing far less than what we are legally entitled to, which is to hold cars for 15 to 20 minutes each.
Finally, we win this by all 24 locals province-wide staying solid, showing their resolve, and winning the media battle with the employer. So far these things are exactly what we’re doing. We had 350 people out to our Local 240 rally on Friday. Rallies in the GTA have brought out thousands, and rallies are being planned this week at all other College locals. In addition, this Wednesday there will be a large picket and rally at the offices of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development. We are turning the heat up, and it will only continue.
This will end when enough pressure gets put on the College Employer Council (CEC) to return to the table. Important things to remember are:
1)No college student has ever lost a semester due to strike in the history of the Ontario College system. There is no way the government will let this happen now, and there is no chance that we will be on strike for a prolonged period of time. The CEC is saying this strike could be long to scare our members and weaken our resolve. They will manipulate, misrepresent and lie to get what they want – don’t fall for it!
2)The CEC can still force a final offer vote on the membership. We need to be prepared for this, as management will try to get our members to bite on a toxic deal that has a bit more money in it. We need to turn this offer down in order to win this strike.
3)If we weather the storm of a final offer, then we win. Either the government will legislate us back to work, or the CEC will buckle and return to the table. Either way, we will put our remaining issues to arbitration. Our arguments are sound, our demands are reasonable, and we will make historic gains.
THANK YOU!
It isn’t easy for faculty to stand up against the threats and manipulation of our employer. It isn’t easy for full-timers to walk for the rights of contract faculty who are being mistreated and exploited. It isn’t easy to go on strike for the quality of education our students receive, and the quality of jobs they can expect upon graduation. It isn’t easy to do any of these things in a society that encourages us to look out for number one, to not question authority, and to toe the party line.
And yet, look at us. Doing all of these things. Proving all of the cynics wrong.
We have reached beyond ourselves toward the greater good. We have found our courage and resolve, and we will win this in the end.
With immense pride and respect,
The OPSEU 240 Local Executive Committee
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