Ontario's part-time college workers win right to unionize

Royal Assent given to Bill 90, ending more than 35 years of discrimination

Toronto (15 Oct. 2008) - Part-time workers in Ontario’s community colleges have won their long quest for the right to unionize. The next step is to get certified with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).

Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley has given Royal Assent to Bill 90, which amends the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, ending more than 35 years of discrimination against part-time workers.

OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas called it a “momentous victory."

President Roger Couvrette (right) and Vice-President Candy Lindsay (left) celebrate the victory by Ontario college part-timers. In the centre (left to right) are partial load-teacher and organizer Stephanie Gunter; OPSEU Local 124 member Connie Byrns (support); Local 125 (academic) partial-load teacher Marianne Nichols; Jim Sharp, chief steward, Local 125; and Lori Kaempf, Local 125.

“We know that it was through the collective efforts of thousands of full-timers and part-timers that we succeeded in righting this historic wrong,” Thomas said. “Now that the part-timers’ bargaining rights are secured, we are determined to welcome them as OPSEU members.”

College part-timers were excluded from bargaining under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, passed in 1972, and successive attempts have failed to overturn the law, until now.

Over the past four years OPSEU has committed more than $4 million to a full-scale campaign to win union rights for an estimated 17,000 part-time workers. This included formation of the Organization of Part-Time and Sessional Employees (OPSECAAT).

The OPSEU drive began in November 2007 across the province, culminating with an application to the Ontario Labour Relations Board last April for certification of part-time academic and support workers.

The union was determined to challenge the law under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, if necessary.

However, the Ontario Labour Relations Board deferred the certification request for an immediate representation vote after a lawyer representing the province announced that legislation would be introduced to amend the existing law. Bill 90 was tabled in the legislature last June, extending bargaining rights to part-timers and making other changes to the colleges' bargaining regime.

“We will continue our quest for justice for part-timers until they are safely within the union where we can negotiate a fair contract for them,” Thomas said. NUPGE