The Ontario Public Service Employees Union’s (OPSEU) continuing strike outside Durham College in Oshawa has caused student delays – sometimes of over an hour – and have spiked criticism from area residents and road users.
The strikers are blocking roads entering the campus, which leads to heavy congestion and delays for Durham College and Ontario Tech University (OTU) students driving to school.
Gridlocks on roads leading to the institutions has caused delays to road users and inconvenienced area residents.
The strike impacted Alecya Khan, a first-year Durham College student who drives between school and her home in Ajax. She said the strikes caused her to be late for a lab on one of the first days of school, which she then had to reschedule. “I was literally waiting in that line for like two hours.” Khan says she has to leave an hour or two earlier to account for the delays caused by the strikes, which could be slower or faster depending on the time and day.
Strike, But Keep the Roads Free
While sympathetic to the cause, Khan doesn’t like the way it interferes with student life. “I’m trying to learn, and they’re blocking us from coming in. I feel like they should just wait on the side. I get why they’re fighting, but I just think they could do it a bit differently.”
Area resident Lan Hardock told Durham Post: “The union’s message is being lost because of these disruptive tactics. Blocking access to public facilities is not only inconsiderate, it risks safety, creates hostility, and undermines any sympathy the public might have had for their cause. If they want respect for their jobs, they must first show respect to the community they serve.”
OPSEU Response
Brandon Carson, president of the OPSEU Local 354 — which covers Durham College support staff — argues that while some colleges decided to cancel classes temporarily because of strikes, Durham College’s strikes are managed safely, and allow classes to continue. “[Some Locals] were not allowing vehicles to come in. You’ll see here that we’re holding cars up 30 seconds per car, one car at a time. We’re doing it in a very safe way. There’s a flow here. If you keep that consistent flow, it keeps people safe, and safety’s my biggest priority in this role.”
At a few points during the strike, emergency services were required to enter the campus. Carson says that because of the controlled manner the strike is operated, ambulances were able to enter and exit campus through the exit route without issues.
Shortage of Services
Marya Zuregat, another first-year student at Durham College, believes the strike is delaying her Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) funding application. Furthermore, she’s missing out on key campus services. “A lot of the departments that you need for a first year, it’s not available because of the strike.”
With college support workers on strike, there is a shortage of campus services within the school. These shortages are also affecting OTU because the two facilities share some services.
OPSEU’s Carson says some of his colleagues reported being “bombarded with requests on how to do things they’ve never been asked to do in the past.” He says it proves the value that support staff offer to students. Carson hopes he and staff can make a deal and return to work as soon as possible.
Bus Drop Shifted
Students have also raised concerns about the new bus route. Because of the strikes, buses began dropping passengers at another location, forcing students like Zuregat to walk further, and take more time to reach classes.
“Everyone’s annoyed. It started off positive, everyone had a positive attitude towards it. But now I feel like people are starting to change their mind,” Zuregat says.
Charith Desilda, another first-year student says he and his friends have also experienced disruptions in their commutes, which has led to frustration.
Keep Students’ Needs in Mind
Zuregat believes students are being left out of the conversation. “Our needs and what we want are not being accounted for. The attention is all on them.” Zuregat hopes that other parties can listen to what the students want too.
Despite the annoyances, students sympathize with the OPSEU workers. Zuregat believes workers are justified in their strike if pay is the issue. “If they’re not getting the money they need, it affects us, it affects our education, and how successful you may be. They deserve what they’re asking for.”
Desilda also agrees. “If you’re not earning a good pay in this economy, it’s not good. I kind of understand.”
OPSEU Ultimatums
The OPSEU has offered two ultimatums to the College Employment Council (CEC) — the bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 colleges. One would prevent college management from outsourcing work that is normally done by Ontario College support staff, unless given permission by the union. The other request would impose restrictions on administrative staff from doing support staff work. The OPSEU is willing to accept at least one of these policy changes in order to return to work.
However, according to the CEC CEO Graham Lloyd, the CEC will not budge on either request.
The three-week long strike which began September 11, is ongoing because of a failure to reach common ground with the CEC.
The College’s Stance
One of the provisions in the CEC proposal M12 — their latest bargaining package to the OPSEU — states that OPSEU members cannot be laid off from their college job because of outsourcing, except if the outsourced company offers a similar job with similar pay and benefits to the employee.
“It is agreed that no bargaining unit member who has completed the probationary period will be released from the college’s employ as a direct result of the college contracting out their work. However, contracting out to an employer who will employ the employee with comparable terms and conditions of employment is not a breach of this appendix,” Lloyd said.
With these provisions in place, Lloyd argues college support worker jobs are not in jeopardy, and therefore, giving control over outsourcing to the OPSEU is unnecessary. He suspects some union members are unaware of this provision.
“They already have protection when it affects their jobs. They want to control it even if it doesn’t affect jobs.”
Specialized Services: In the case of specialized services, Lloyd says if the CEC agrees to the union’s requests, they could be barred from arranging snowplow removal, or HVAC repair from an outside company. “Can you imagine if we needed an HVAC repair and had to call the [union] and get permission?”
To address the OPSEU’s second request — to restrict management from doing support staff work and leave it only to support staff — Lloyd says agreeing to this policy would impede college operations. He argues that in the case of this policy, if college management ever performs tasks like informing a student about financial aid, turning off a light, temporarily operating a cash register, and/or checking for a leak, they risk facing grievances from the union.
Bargaining Changes Worth $155 Million: So far, the CEC has made some favourable changes for the OPSEU in their bargaining agreement, but not enough for them to return to work. So far, according to Lloyd, these changes are collectively worth over $155 million. Some of those changes include a 50 per cent severance pay increase, minor across-the-board (ATB) wage increases, this year and over the next two, vacation carry-over rights, increased vision care, hearing aid, and protective equipment coverage, extended recall rights, bereavement leave, domestic or sexual violence leave, and $20 tuition fees for approved college courses.
OPSEU’s Stance
To address criticisms about the union’s request to restrict administration to do support staff work, Carson mentions one of the CEC’s points about facing grievances for turning off light switches if this request is granted.
“That’s not a support staff job, to turn off a light switch. That’s not the intention of what [the union]’s asking for. They’re just wanting to make sure that a large portion of our work is not being done by managers, because in certain cases, that’s happened, and they’ve released some of our employees. That extra workload is flown over to managers. We don’t want that to happen.”
To address the union’s request to control college outsourcing, Christine Kelsey, a member of the OPSEU bargaining team argues gaining this control would protect staff jobs. “If snowplough is being done by workers at a college, then that work should stay at the college.”
Dip in Enrollment
The current tension between Ontario college workers and administration has to do with a large dip in the enrollment of international students between 2023 and 2024, which some colleges have reported reaching nearly 50 per cent. That dip also means a significant dip in revenue, because international students pay significantly more for tuition than domestic students. That loss in revenue has inevitably led to over 110 layoffs and unfilled positions at Durham College in the past two years, and more amongst other colleges.
Carson says Ontario’s loss of international students has impacted some colleges more significantly than others.
“We were second when it comes to the ratio of international students to domestic students. So yes, it hurts Durham College not having so many international students, but we’re not hurting as much as other schools. Durham always took a balanced approach to it.”
In their 2023-2024 report, Durham College claimed to have over 13,700 full-time students, with over 3,800 international students. On the other hand, Conestoga College, for example, reported 40,000 full-time students, with three quarters of those being international students in that same period.