The bargaining team for Ontario’s 24 colleges, including Canadore, says striking faculty members will vote on the employers’ latest contract offer next week.

The Ontario Labour Relations Board has scheduled the faculty vote to be held from November 14th to 16th.

OPSEU members locally will be rallying outside MPP Vic Fedeli’s office later this morning.

Meantime, a student at Canadore is organizing a rally for Friday on College Drive.

Andrea Pond says students are tired of being used as bargaining chips and they want their voices to be heard.

She says they’ve paid for an education they’re not getting right now and says finances are a big concern for students too.

“The tuition that we paid, what we pay for rent, whether we can go home and work. We’re losing a lot of money this way because people don’t know if they have enough time to go home and start working again,” she says.

Pond is concerned about the implications of a long dispute.

“If we lose our first semester or if our first semester is pushed back I’m not going to be graduating on that date. Or I won’t be able to find a job in the time frame that I thought I could find a job. A lot of students are in the same boat as I am,” she says.

With files from The Canadian Press
(File photo)

Filed under: College strike