Ontario Tech University faculty vow to stay on strike until they get 'a good deal' on workload
CBC
More than 280 faculty members at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa are vowing they will remain on strike until they get an acceptable deal on their workload and other issues.
The University of Ontario Institute of Technology Faculty Association (UOITFA) said its members walked off the job on Thursday after negotiating for nine months and almost 30 sessions at the bargaining table. Talks broke down in recent weeks.
"We've been through two rounds of mediation with the university and we simply can't get them to move on some very important priorities that have been established by our members," said Mike Eklund, the chief negotiating officer for the faculty.
"The biggest one is the workload … that our members are dealing with where they're not recognizing things like supervision of undergraduate and graduate students and they're not taking into consideration members' preferences for mode of delivery and many other things relating to workload."
Eklund said other issues include benefits for all members, and retirement benefits.
"We simply don't understand why they are not willing to move on" these demands, he told CBC News.
Eklund said reducing class sizes is one proposal on the table.
Kimberly Nugent, the acting president for UOITFA, said this is the first strike by faculty in the university's history, adding that their concerns are not new.
"Our workload concerns predate the pandemic, COVID-19 only exacerbated them," Nugent told CBC News.
She said Bill 124, provincial legislation that caps wage increases for some public sector workers, prevents any talk of more money, so the faculty is targeting the "invisible work that's just started to grow and become unsustainable."
"The university refuses to address our concerns around workload … and here we are today looking at a status quo agreement and we're just asking for them to address some of our very serious concerns," Nugent said.
Nugent said the strike action has "already lasted one day too long," and she's hoping for an agreement soon.
"We did not want to be out here, we're absolutely devastated," she said.
"I was supposed to teach today, I'm missing my students, I want to be in the classroom. I hope it doesn't go on for too long but here we are."
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