https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...culty-begin-two-day-vote-on-latest-offer.html
Ontario’s college students strike back — in the courts, on the airwaves
Pressure comes as 12,000 instructors are in the midst of two days of voting on an offer that could end job action.
By
KRISTIN RUSHOWY Queen's Park Bureau
Tues., Nov. 14, 2017
Frustrated Ontario students are striking out on their own — via the courts and over the airwaves — in a bid to put pressure on the colleges and put an end to the almost five-week-old job action by instructors.
On Tuesday, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the province’s 500,000 students, seeking tuition and fee refunds from the colleges based on lost class time — with full refunds for those who choose to drop out.
Meanwhile, in Ottawa, the Algonquin Students’ Association launched a $20,000 media campaign urging their teachers to vote in favour of the latest offer from the College Employer Council — because at this point, they say, it’s the fastest way to end the
strike.
“We’re just trying to find any way to influence or get students back to class” and are not picking sides, said student union President Victoria Ventura, who is featured in the
radio ad and video.
“Our job at the students’ association is to speak on behalf of students and what they want to be heard,” she said in a telephone interview. “Again, the message is that we respect the faculty, absolutely, and up until this point we’ve respected the process … but we are now in week five, and it’s a record-breaking strike at this point, so maybe it’s time to wade into the politics.”
Faculty across the province began voting on Tuesday on the latest offer from the colleges — a move the colleges requested after talks with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union broke down. Voting, which is taking place online or by phone, continues until Thursday morning, and results should be available later that day.
Should at least 50 per cent, plus one, of faculty approve it, they will be back on the job early next week. Should they reject it, the job action will continue. Talks could resume, but it is unclear when the government would step in.
At Queen’s Park, post-secondary Minister Deb Matthews said the government has to let the process unfold, and in any case is “very limited in what we can do.”
“We can’t just introduce back-to-work legislation because (we) want the strike to end,” she said.
“You have to meet a certain threshold,” she added. “We’re not there.”
The government is not looking at tuition refunds now, but she has already told colleges that their net savings from the strike — estimated to be in the $5 million range — must be reinvested into a fund for struggling students.
“They are the ones paying the price,” said Matthews, minister of advanced education and skills development. “Obviously we are very, very concerned about the students — and they’ve been caught in the middle of this and it’s gone on way too long.”
Some 12,000 faculty — full-time and those considered “partial load” teaching anywhere from seven to a maximum 12 hours a week — set up picket lines Oct. 16, and the strike has become longest in their history.
Caitlin Foulon, a first-year student at Fanshawe College in London, is one of the plaintiffs in the proposed class action lawsuit that alleges breach of contract.
“Honestly, we just want our tuition back and our fees that we paid out of pocket,” said Foulon, who is studying special events planning.
Even if schools extend the semester to make up for the lost time, “right now the plan is to put five weeks into two weeks — for us, we are still not getting our full education,” she said.
Foulon said she’s paid $2,500 in tuition for the semester, $350 on a parking pass “and $500 for books that are sitting collecting dust on my desk.”
Charney Lawyers in Toronto is representing the group, and will be paid out of any settlement awarded, she added.
At Queen’s Park, NDP MPP Peggy Sattler said the government should be pushing for a negotiated deal between the two sides.
“Students are experiencing skyrocketing rates of anxiety and depression with few resources on campus to assist them, they are being forced to turn down job offers and are worried how they will be able to support themselves” if the semester is lengthened.
“The risk of losing a semester is now very, very real, and students worry that they will have to repay OSAP (student loans) for education they did not receive,” said the London West MPP and education critic.
