A student at Conestoga College is seen in an Aug. 25, 2023, file photo.Alicia Wynter/The Globe and Mail
The union representing faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges says its members have delivered a strong strike mandate.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union’s says 79 per cent of those who participated in the vote supported a strike mandate, with 76 per cent of members casting a ballot.
The union, which represents some 15,000 professors, instructors, librarians and counsellors, says workload and job precarity are among the key issues at bargaining.
OPSEU says it remains hopeful a contract can be negotiated with the College Employer Council.
The council says it has offered to engage in mediation-interest arbitration, and that any kind of strike is “unnecessary.”
The union’s contract expired on Oct. 1 and the parties have since held two days of conciliation talks.