Traffic chaos on campus continues amid ongoing labour disruption at Western University

It’s day 13 of a strike by Western University’s facilities employees and some roads around the campus remain closed, causing delays for students and motorists.

“It's definitely been a bit of a detriment, like coming to school and taking a lot longer,” said James Boland, who is studying business at Western University.

For Andrew Korne, it’s the noise around campus.

“I was just in the class this afternoon, and I heard honks, there were horns disrupting noise from the protest, which was actually disrupting the class and the learning itself,” he said.

Western’s 330 support workers have been on strike since Aug. 30, after talks with the university broke down.

“Talks right now are non-existent, we haven't heard from the employer since we gave them a counter offer and they walked away from the table,’ said Chris Yates, vice-president of CUPE Local 2361.

The union represents a wide range of support roles, including maintenance, custodial services and landscape services. The university said it’s proposed ‘one of the most competitive compensation packages in the university sector’.

But, the union said that’s not enough and they want a “fair deal”.

“They have not been anywhere close to keeping up with inflation, and then inflation ran away at a record rate about a year, year and a half ago,” said Yates.

“We're behind. And what that means for our members is two thirds of our members are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet.”

In a statement to CTV News, Western University said; “We’re committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for our community, including regular cleaning and waste removal across campus and in our student residences.”

“We're very concerned about who these workers are that they're bringing in because we know that they're bringing in scab labor. Do they know how to do the job?” questioned Yates.

Students on campus Wednesday said they noticed the lack of services are impacting the school facilities.

“Definitely certain things like different facilities in the bathroom that aren't getting replenished and stuff that we know that they usually get to take care of for us, but we're usually really grateful for it,” explained Western student, Micaela Vancea.

Yates said the striking workers sympathized with drivers facing traffic headaches, but the decision to close roads around campus was a decision made by Western.

“They changed the story to make it sound as though it was because of the labor dispute and to make sure that picketers were safe and everyone was safe,” said Yates.