On Jan. 13, 57 per cent of full-time college faculty voted in favour of a strike mandate that would the effect the education of 500,000 students across Ontario. After a series of unsuccessful meetings, negotiations are still taking place, but a strike deadline has been set for Feb. 11.

Many of Ontario’s college students worry that a strike would result in a losing a semester.

“In the case of a strike, I think the students should be reimbursed.,” said Lu Ann Pannunzio, a first-year advertising student at Mohawk College, one of the colleges affected by the strike. “It’s not fair that we have to be put in the middle of this for no reason when all we want to do is get an education.”

First-year Fanshawe College police foundations student, Nick Luytensaid said he agrees.

“I think we deserve a free semester of school, if not free books,” he said.

“If a strike were to happen, students could end up in a longer semester that would cut into valuable time to work during the summer to pay for their education, therefore creating a lack of resources,” said Tyler Charlebois, director of Advocacy for the College Student Alliance.

He added the teacher’s union wanted to strike during February or March because it is the most critical time for students doing midterms and final projects, therefore giving the union the greatest leverage.

After the faculty walkout in 2006, community colleges established a taskforce to give college faculty a bigger role in academic decisions and organizing workloads as well as approving 13 other recommendations. A unanimous report in March 2009 indicated that management agreed to the settlement.

However, in the midst of these negotiations, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said management has now gone back on its promises and are refusing to implement the taskforce into the new contract that they had previously approved.

“I believe in a right to strike and we do not take the decision lightly. We know it affects a lot of people but I do believe in the democratic right to strike,” said Greg Hamara, media relations officer at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. 

The union said it is also calling on the colleges to withdraw their imposed terms and conditions of employment that were individually put into place, in the absence of a negotiated settlement, in November 2009.

“It’s about power and control and money,” said Ted Montgomery, chair of the College Faculty Bargaining Team. “Management is trying to put up a smoke screen but in reality they are trying to break their promise.”

“The community college faculty has been in a strike position three times over the last 40 years never for longer than a month. None of those cases resulted in a penalty towards the education of students,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery said he did not think the government or college faculty would allow students to lose a full year in the event of a strike.

The strike would affect 10,000 faculty members and 24 campus and community colleges.