Colleges in the northeast say no official notice of layoffs yet, despite declining international tuition

A faculty union leader at Northern College in Timmins says so far, no lay-off notices have been received, despite the college's announcement last week of a multi-million dollar operating deficit.

Northern is projecting an $18 million deficit over the next two years, linked to the federal government policy to reduce international student permits and post-graduate work permits.

The college said it will have to cut expenses, become more efficient and must reduce staffing or its future will be at risk.

Neal McNair is the president of OPSEU local 653, representing about 80 full-time and 80 part-time instructors at Northern.

He said the unions didn't get any heads up about the announcement.

"We're not especially surprised," he said. "They did intimate to us at a meeting last fall that there may be some layoffs pending. They told us at the time, likely not in faculty, but possibly in other areas."

McNair said the union must be notified of pending layoffs, so he doesn't expect any, at least not this semester.

He did say a handful of faculty have taken, or will take advantage of, early exit or retirement packages that have been offered since last spring.

The deadline to accept those offers is the end of this month.

Regardless, McNair says he doesn't see a need for any of the full-time instructors to lose their jobs, especially considering enrollment has been up over the last few years.

"That's how we were running 10 years ago, with 82 full-time faculty," he said. "We're still sitting at that same number of full-time. I don't see any reason why we have to lay off any full-time faculty, and given the current situation, and simply because we've done it before with these numbers, I don't see why we can't do it again."

However, he does expect that some of the 80 part-time instructors will lose work as he thinks the college will choose not to renew their contracts.

McNair says the news has shaken the college community and has raised anxiety levels. He says the union has had to reassure its members that it hasn't heard of specific lay-offs, yet.

It's also a waiting game at Canadore College in North bay, where its faculty union president says he isn't entirely clear on how the government policy on reducing international student permits and work permits will affect the school's finances.

Jim Ronholm is president of OPSEU local 657, representing 240 full and part-time instructors at Canadore.

He says he's heard the college could be running a small deficit next year, but that there are no planned lay-offs or early retirement incentives.

Ronholm says Canadore's president, George Burton, said in an address last month that the college had a longer time to adapt to the financial shortfall because it had a more prudent approach to finance, and compared to some colleges, less of a reliance on international tuition.

Not that the union hasn't attempted to put measures in place to prepare for eventual cutbacks; Ronholm said OPSEU asked to set up a committee with the administration to oversee eventual lay-offs, and to make recommendations on how they may possibly be avoided by retraining.

Ronholm said the administration told the union that a committee was premature at this point, and to check back at the end of the fiscal year, in March.

He says he finds that response a bit ominous.

"Simply, I would have preferred to hear we have no worries for this year or next year as opposed to we have no worries for this year, but we'll know more in March for next year," he said.

At Sault College in Sault Ste. Marie, the president of OPSEU local 613, Neal Moss, said the college had cut some online courses as a cost-saving measure, but no faculty have been laid off.

Moss says he's waiting for the results of more program reviews in February.

"I've been assured that there's not going to be any full time people affected," he said. "But we'll see."

All of the faculty union presidents pointed out that while there was a growing reliance on the higher tuition of international students, colleges were simply trying to overcome the handicap of being the lowest publicly-funded colleges in the country. They also say they continue to deal with tuition cuts that have hampered their ability to provide education to domestic students.