Over nine thousand part time College teachers across Ontario are involved in the biggest ever certification vote in the province, to see if they want to join OPSEU
OPSEU is seeking to represent the workers at Georgian College in Owen Sound and Barrie, along with some 23 other Community colleges in Ontario.
The certification vote began on January 19th and wrap up on Feb. 5th.
The results won’t be known for some time because of issues over who is eligible to vote and that could take until April.
Union spokesperson Roger Couvrette tells Bayshore Broadcasting news that some 56 part-time teachers at Georgian College in Owen Sound would be covered.
He says Colleges have used part-timers as a cheap source of employment and it must end.
Couvrette says they are only paid for their classroom time and not any prep work, so their 40 dollars an hour works out to be more like 10 dollars an hour.
Full time College teachers earn between 50 and 90 thousand dollars. They are already represented by OPSEU.
Couvrette adds part time teachers also have no benefits, no vacation, no job security and no grievance process.
