Officials at St. Clair College are considering contingency plans should the strike by faculty continue much longer.
The strike enters week three on Monday, and there are still no new talks planned between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents faculty, and the College Employers Council. So far, Advanced Education Minister Deb Matthews has resisted calls from the union to intervene in the dispute.
Faculty members on strike at St. Clair College, October 16, 2017. (Photo by Maureen Revait)
John Fairley, director of corporate communications at St. Clair College, says the next week or two will be critical.
"We've always talked about how week three and week four are very critical because if you get past those weeks, then some things are going to be changing," says Fairley.
"Usually, we're done in mid-December and then exams," continues Fairley. "Maybe we continue an extra week. I don't know. We may look at having exams on Saturdays and Sundays."
He says it has been difficult for everyone at St. Clair, and everyone wants the strike to be over.
"It's not an easy job for them [the faculty] to do. They know what they have to do as members of OPSEU," Fairley says. "It's hard for our support staff, our facilities people, and our administration who've got to drive by, in a lot of cases, friends and family of the St. Clair College family every day."
About 12,000 faculty members across Ontario walked off the job October 15 to protest how part-time sessional instructors now outnumber full-time faculty. The union wants a 50/50 split.
Fairley says part of the challenge is that so much hinges on how OPSEU members in Toronto vote.
"We make up probably 3-4% of all of the 24 colleges faculty," he says.
Students at Ontario's public colleges have never missed a semester because of a labour action, but the last strike in March 2008 lasted 18 days.