Potential college strike looms large for students, especially those with far bigger worries

The threat of a strike at Fanshawe, and 23 other Ontario colleges, is looming.

“There hasn’t been movement. There is an impasse,“ states Darryl Bedford, the president of OPSEU local 110. He represents over 1000 full and part-time faculty members at Fanshawe.

“If the college employer council will either not return to the table or will not agree to binding interest arbitration, our members will be on strike as of Friday morning,” Bedford confirmed to CTV London.

Darryl Bedford of OPSEU Local 110 on March 15, 2022. (Sean Irvine CTV News)

The news is a significant stress on students, whether they are indifferent or support one side or the other, in the dispute.

“It kind of sucks that it’s happening at the end of the year,” states Pablo Rufino, a film student. “I hope that everyone comes to their senses and works together perfectly.”

That’s an understatement for Yuri Maliar. He is an international student from war-torn Ukraine.

Already up all night worried about his family fighting for survival near Kyiv, he says he does not need the added stress of a labour impasse at school. “Huge problems in my country and at the same time there is going to be a strike. I already have trouble sleeping.”

But in the midst of it all, Yuri also respects the concerns of his teachers and the administration and has been trying to understand the dispute.

Yuri Maliar, an international student from Ukraine says the added stress of a college strike is tough to take with the ongoing war at home affecting his family. (Sean Irvine CTV London)

Bedford says the key union concerns, before talks broke down, have centred on faculty workload and the unpredictable work tenures of part-time faculty.

But the largest issue is Fanshawe’s move to contract with a private college to operate classes in Toronto. Bedford says his members see that as an economic hit to London. “They want to see that jobs here in London and in Southwestern Ontario are protected."

While the union is asking for immediate binding interest arbitration, the College Employer Council (CEG) which represents Fanshawe and other college administrations, tells a different story.

Graham Lloyd, the CEO of CEG, says it is “simply untrue” that the colleges are refusing arbitration.

He says the union has “chosen to go on strike” and is calling on OPSEU to look at final offer selection arbitration.

Students, meanwhile, just want a solution quickly.

Yuri Maliar's family seen together before the war began in Ukraine. (Submitted)

Especially Yuri, who repeats he has bigger things to worry about. Yet with the school providing a distraction from constant worry about the war at home, he pleads with both sides to come to an agreement.

“I hope everything will be fine, and both the professors and the faculty will find the solution for it,” he says.