Fanshawe faculty union president hopeful strike can be avoided, but says 'big issues' remain

The head of a local union that represents faculty, librarians and counsellors at Fanshawe College says he's hopeful there's still a path to avoiding a strike while securing key victories for his members.

Those sentiments come as The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) inches toward being in a legal strike position on Jan. 4, although the five-day notice legally required by the union before job action can begin has not been given.

"The really big issue is the workload issues [the employer council is] refusing to address." said Mark Feltham, the president of OPSEU Local 110. "I'm hoping mediation next week will create some movement, but we're just going to have to wait and see."

While several types of employees at Ontario's 24 publicly-assisted colleges are represented by OPSEU, the colleges themselves are represented by the College Employer Council. However, the latest round of bargaining hasn't resulted in much progress, the union's provincial officials said in late December.

Last time college employees represented by OPSEU went on strike in 2017, classes were paused for more than a month before the strike was ended through legislation by then-premier Kathleen Wynne.

According to Feltham, a number of issues are at hand, but the main ones dwarf the rest.

For instance, he said, "there's probably room to come together" for both sides, which remain apart on pay increases.

Instead, Feltham expects to see a focus on workload at the bargaining table. He previously told CBC News workloads for all members of his union have climbed and evolved significantly in the era of online and hybrid schooling.

"They claim they're addressing [workload concerns], but they're not really invested. Their proposals have actually made our workload formula worse. They're representing this as a breakthrough, and it's a breakthrough in the wrong direction," he said.

Feltham also said the employers have proposed concessions that, in the union's opinion, would weaken its position in the face of potential layoffs.

The potential for layoffs are a big concern, following the federal government's cap on international student admissions put in place in response to housing shortages and high rents. In 2023 and 2024, Fanshawe had the third-highest number of international students — roughly 11,700 — among Canadian post-secondary institutions. 

This year, that number is set to drop by roughly 47 per cent, according to an internal email obtained by CBC News last October.

That email warned that the drop would impact the number of classes offered in each program.

"The staffing decline is hitting first with the contract faculty. We've actually seen a lot of contract faculty have hours reduced for the winter already. That's just an illustration of the precarious circumstances that these faculty find themselves in," said Feltham.

In a statement, Fanshawe College said it has issued one-time suspensions for 18 winter semester program intakes, a decision "influenced by a combination of factors, including declining international enrollment."

Non-full-time faculty members who taught in these programs were notified, and their teaching contracts were not renewed, the statement said. The college couldn't say exactly how many faculty members were impacted.

Feltham added, he believes the province is to blame for the precarious fiscal situation many colleges have found them in.

"The root cause of all of this is the Ontario government's unwillingness to provide funding to have a sustainable, properly funded college system."

In its statement, the college said it had not received any provincial money to offset lost revenue from having lower international enrollment, however, an enterprise-wide review to find opportunities to find efficiencies has been paid for by the province.