Ontario Colleges on Strike..... How is it affecting you?

[hammerpcp]

I am OPSEU. Do I have to support this? lol

Any body heard of whats up with CUPE striking?

SooC,

I am working but I was going to take a course in March.

I am really putting my ignorance on display here, but I thought that each college was an independent employer and as such can dictate class sizes as they see fit. High school teachers are different because they all work for the municipal board of eduction.

[akroeze]

1070 news web site

Colleges Labour Standoff

Thousands of college students across the province, including 24 hundred at Lambton, could be out of classes for a while. College teachers are going into their second day on the picket lines and both sides of the labour dispute say it could be a lengthy walkout. Calls are growing for Premier McGuinty to step in and help resolve the dispute but he will only say that he expects both sides to return to negotiating.

2006-03-08

[Guest DELETED]

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[MedicMal]

If they really cared about the students they would not be on strike

I agree

[hammerpcp]

Hammer...all the provincial college instructors work under the same union. They make an insane amount of money (considering they get a couple of months and every weekend off). The strike is, indeed something about workload and class size. I don't know if this will affect your course or not...if it's just a parttime course or a couple of days it probably won't...they can get part time instructors who are non union (like myself) to teach those. I haven't been keeping much track of what's going on either...and as for the CUPE thing...we're all deemed essential workers, I talked to my boss, he says that it would mean no transfers. That's it. I'lll keep you posted on what I know.....(lol which usually isn't very much!)

Brat :wink:

Thanks Brat.

From what I understand of the CUPE thing, is that McGuinty is passing a bill that will entitle police, fire and ambulance to early retirement. Since some ambulance is part of CUPE (? I'm assuming) the rest of CUPE wants this privilege too. Because loading garbage is comparable in physical and mental strain I guess :roll:

[MedicDude]

I'm 3/4 done my first year of PCP studies, and I can say that while it's a pain, it's not the end of the world for me. Since at my school all our courses are one semester in length, our first semester is safe. I hope I can say the same about our second semester... We've been told what to read and study for the duration of the strike, but it really doesn't take the place of actual instruction and testing. What I'm wondering about is how they'll manage our coursework and testing after the strike is done. Will we extend the semester? Try to squeeze the remaining material into a shorter time frame? I have no idea... All this uncertainty and everything being "up in the air" really bugs me.

That being said, I am enjoying some time off... I just wish I knew exactly how much time I had, so I could go on vacation! 8)

[MedicDude]

1. Fire them.

2. Hire permanent replacements for them, making lots of senior field medics very happy.

3. Those medics leaving the field will make lots of unemployed medics happy.

4. School goes on.

5. The union is busted.

6. New blood moves into the field.

Everybody wins. Except for the losers.

Well I wouldn't mind that, assuming we could get those replacements in there, pronto!

[jw-c152]

The CUPE Strike/Job action: This is slightly off topic, but someone else brought it up so here goes...

CUPE Ontario is no longer initiating any sort of job action or strike. This includes paramedics who are part of CUPE.

Hammer, you're almost correct by saying the CUPE was opposed to the bill because PD, FD and EMS were to receive early retirement benefits and the rest of CUPE was not.

The incorrect information there lies in the fact that in actuallity (is that word??) EMS was EXCLUDED from any of the benefits PD and FD would receive in terms of early retirement. In Bill 206 (which has passed through the House btw) PD and FD would automatically see their Normal Retirement Age reduced to 60, which would effectively allow them to retire with full pension at around 50 years of age. They would also be permitted to negotiate pension improvements with their employer, which OMERS pension plan would be obligated to implement within 3 years. PD and FD would also be allowed to negotiate to their maximum pension accrual rate of 2.33% per annum as permitted by Federal Income Tax Law (because PD and FD are classed as Public Safety Occupations). So that's the basic run down on what this bill gives Police and Fire. This bill is GREAT for them. However, it sucks for EMS! Here's why:

- For Paramedics, our Normal Retirement Age is and still will be 65, which would allow most of us to retire between 55-60. This wasn't reduced like it was for PD and FD.

- Initially, in Bill 206, pension accrual rate for paramedics (as well as other CUPE members, ie. clerks, receptionists, janitors, etc) was capped by the McGuinty government at 1.345% per annum. 1.345 per cent! PD and FD got 2.33%!!! As an example, a police officer with 30 years on making an average of 35,000/year in his best 5 years would bring home a yearly pension of 19 thousand dollars. A paramedic on the other hand, with 30 years on, making 35K average for best five years would only bring home a pension of $11 000 per year because of our much lower accrual rate. This is what they proposed even though under federal income tax law, paramedics too are a Public Safety Occupation. CUPE fought against this and won a concession from the gov't that allowed us to negotiate an accural rate with our employer up to the max 2.33%... BUT THIS IS JUST A TRICK! Here's why:

- Under Bill 206, PD and FD must negotiate any pension improvements with their employer. Once a deal as been reached, the OMERS (our pension) board must implement these changes within 2 years. Under Bill 206, EMS must negotiate any pension improvements with their employer also. HOWEVER, once a deal has been reached, the improvement must be voted on by the OMERS Board and receive 2/3 support from the board to be passed.

- The OMERS Board is composed of 50% Employers side, 50% Employees side... Except for the fact that 1 of the spots on the Employees side is actually an EMPLOYER! (ie. The Manager of my service is a manager/boss, but he is also a member of the OMERS pension plan and my BOSS (the Employer) sits on the Employee side of the board). This system makes it virtually impossible for Paramedics to actually receive ANY improvements to our pension.

In the end, Paramedics/EMS got screwed again, not only by the government and Bill 206, but also by CUPE... Because, CUPE gave up the fight with just a promise from the government to review bill 206 in 6 years. CRAP CRAP CRAP! We got SCREWED!

Hope that helps you understand the problems with Bill 206 in regards to EMS and Paramedics. I'm sorry for adding my biases into this post.

[MedicMal]

hahaha apology accepted

I don't mind at all

MedicMal

[nwoparamedics]

I don't believe it's over money, because the Colleges have offered a nice raise in their last offer to the teachers... a raise which would see the college teachers making 94 000 dollars at the end of the contract. Not bad IMHO. If they think that is not enough dough then I believe they're getting a bit greedy.

Dang... I think I live in a different Ontario than where this information came from. If the colleges were paying medic instructors this much... we'd have no problem getting more of them. Maybe these wages are for the Department heads???

Which brings up another point:

1. Fire them.

2. Hire permanent replacements for them, making lots of senior field medics very happy.

3. Those medics leaving the field will make lots of unemployed medics happy.

Therein lies the problem... the wages really chew for Paramedics looking at instructing the College courses (as compared to FT medic positions), that's why we have so many problems getting anyone to leave the field and go into teaching the courses. If one could make as much $$ teaching the courses, or was gaurenteed full time hours, it might be an option. For now, a lot of the instructors are doing the instructing part-time over and above their full time medic jobs (at least in the North).... or are in it for other reasons.