As word came Thursday afternoon that Ontario's striking faculty voted to reject a contract offer and continue their nearly five-week strike, Sudbury college students held a demonstration at Collège Boréal.
The protest was part of the provincewide #AssToClass movement, where students were asked to fill the hallways and classrooms of Ontario's 24 community colleges, calling on both sides to come back to the bargaining table.
The roughly 40 post-secondary students marched through Boréal's hallways, and held a sit-in at Boréal's library. Lyne Michaud, the college's vice-president of academic affairs, met with the group for about half an hour.
“It's just to get our faces out there, get our voices heard, and do what we can,” said Chelsea Katerynuk, a first-year nursing student at Cambrian College.
She said she appreciated Michaud meeting with the group and providing comprehensive answers to the students' questions.
Katerynuk is also one of a group of Ontario college students who have come forward to stand as representative plaintiffs in a proposed class action lawsuit against the province's colleges.
The notice of action alleges the colleges breached contracts with students by failing to provide vocational training and a full term of classes.
It seeks full refunds for students who choose not to continue with their programs and refunds "equivalent to the value of the lost instruction" for students who do want to continue.
“I believe that we as students deserve some sort of compensation for the time we missed,” she said. “We pay to be in school every single day, and right now we're not getting that.”
Katerynuk said the faculty's decision to vote against the offer was probably the best decision they could have made for themselves and students.
“Unfortunately, that means we're not going back to class right now, which is ultimately what we want, but we also want the faculty to make what they think is the right choice,” she said.
The strike began Oct. 16. Talks resumed briefly between the College Employer Council and OPSEU, which represents the more than 12,000 college professors, before breaking down again last week.
The council asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to schedule a vote on its offer this week, but 86 per cent of faculty rejected it.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she would meet with college and union representatives Thursday afternoon. The Toronto Star reported that after that meeting, talks have resumed.
The colleges say their offer included salary increases, improved benefits and measures to address concerns around part-time faculty, with academic freedom the only major outstanding issue.
But the union said the offer contained "serious concessions.”
Émilie Charette, president of Boréal's student association, l'Association générale des étudiants et étudiantes (AGEE), was also among the students taking part in the demonstration.
She also said she was “relieved” OPSEU rejected the contract offer, as she thinks a settlement can be reached that's more equal for both sides and good for students as well.
“I'm hoping that everything is put back on the table the way it was during the last negotiations so we can resolve the matter as fast as possible and go back to school,” Charette said.
David Fasciano, president of OPSEU Local 673, representing Boréal faculty, joined his members on the picket lines Thursday.
He said the 86-per-cent rejection of the colleges' offer is an “incredible statement” by faculty “that their offer was completely unacceptable.”
As for Wynne's intervention in the strike, “I think now's the time for her to put pressure on the College Employer Council to let them bargain and get a settlement done,” he said.
Fasciano said he appreciates the students speaking out.
“Their voice is very important,” he said. “The more pressure from students, the more things are going to happen, and the faster things are going to go.”
Danielle Talbot-Lariviere, Collège Boréal's senior vice-president of corporate services, spoke to the media on behalf of the college Thursday afternoon.
She said the college is “very disappointed” with the faculty's rejection of the colleges' offer, and hopefully a settlement will be forthcoming soon.
Boréal met with the protesting students to listen to their concerns and try to reassure them, she said.
“In the history of the college system, no student has ever lost their academic year, and we're working on contingency plans,” Talbot-Lariviere said.
