Students Relieved: Can Finally Focus on Academics
A province-wide faculty strike has been averted
Toronto, ON—This afternoon, Ontario’s college students finally received some positive news as the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) revealed the official count on the colleges’ final offer, says the College Student Alliance (CSA). It is now official that Ontario’s college faculty have voted to accept the colleges’ final offer by a majority of 51.45% and avert a province-wide work stoppage.
“Students are relieved to hear that their education and training will not be jeopardized this academic year due to a faculty strike,” says Justin Fox, President of the College Student Alliance. “Students have been waiting for months to know for certain whether or not their education would be interrupted because of labour unrest.”
After nearly nine months of bargaining, a strike mandate and a vote on the college’s final offer, Ontario’s full-time professors, librarians, counselors and partial load instructors now have a new three year collective agreement. On February 10th, faculty unofficially voted 51.25% in favour of accepting the colleges’ final offer, but with such a narrow margin the OLRB was asked to provide the official results. After taking ten days to review the ballots and include the segregated and mail-in ballots, the OLRB has reported that 4473 voted to accept and 4221 voted to reject the offer.
“The most important task ahead for both the colleges and the faculty will be to put any remaining issues and feelings behind them and get back to focusing on providing students and Ontarians with the education and training needed to prosper in today’s knowledge-based economy,” adds Fox.
For more information on the new agreement and for what students think, visit www.collegestrike.ca.
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