Mar 12th, 2006, 21:48 | 只看该作者 #43 |
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ZT from toronto star--Students may face weekend classes
Students may face weekend classes-Mar 11 Ontario college students, now losing classes because of a teachers' strike, may be forced to go to school on Saturdays and Sundays to make up for lost time if the dispute drags on. Insisting all will be done to ensure more than 150,000 students complete their semester before summer, Ontario Public Service Employees Union bargaining chair Ted Montgomery said the term may be extended by a week, the exam period shortened and both days of the weekend used for classes. "I know that's not comfortable for students and neither is it for faculty," Montgomery told reporters at a news conference. "But I'm not suggesting, and I don't understand the colleges to be suggesting, that there are plans to extend into summer. "There would be a short extension certainly and that has an impact that we would rather not see. But that's what we've been forced into." About 9,100 teachers, counsellors and librarians walked off the job at Ontario's 24 colleges on Tuesday in a dispute over class sizes and workload. They've been without a contract since last August. No new talks are scheduled. Montgomery announced yesterday that OPSEU is filing a bad-faith bargaining claim against the colleges, which are represented in talks by the College Compensation and Appointment Council. The union is accusing them of "provoking the strike" by reintroducing in their final offer last Monday workload provisions previously rejected by the union membership. He also called on the provincial government "to become more involved" by urging the colleges to come up with a new offer that could kick-start talks. Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley said the province has no plans to intervene by legislating teachers back to work. He reiterated his call for the two sides to resume talks. Bentley, who had to cancel a long-planned family holiday to Egypt because of the strike, said he wouldn't stand in the way of weekend classes after the strike so students can catch up. Rick Miner of Seneca College, chair of the colleges' committee of presidents, called the union's bad-faith bargaining allegations "part of the game" in a contract dispute. The colleges are drawing up contingency plans for making up classes after a lengthy strike, Miner said. They will make some public statements in the next week or so, he said. There might be "some cases" of weekend classes if the strike drags on, Miner said. But with an estimated half of college students working part-time or full-time, often on weekends, it's "just not practical" to require all of them to come to class on Saturdays and Sundays, he added. Tyler Charlebois of the College Student Alliance said weekend classes would be "a real problem" for many of those attending college. "It's just another example of how students, who are missing their education through no fault of their own, are being used as pawns in this dispute," he said. "Instead of worrying about how classes will be made up, the two sides should be focusing on ending this strike." With files from Robert Benzie |
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Mar 12th, 2006, 22:53 | 只看该作者 #45 |
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Strike will be last to next Thursday...
URGENT ACTION: Rally for Quality Education Thursday, March 16, 11:00am at Younge-Dundas Square Join striking faculty from all Ontario's community colleges. March to the Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities at 11:45am, 900 Bay St. at Wellesley ** Note for strikers: This is your picket duty for the day. 老师们下周四会在 Downtown 集会。 |
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Mar 14th, 2006, 18:44 | 只看该作者 #50 |
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CBC News
College officials guarantee students will finish term Last updated Mar 14 2006 09:02 AM EST CBC News Ontario colleges are promising 150,000 students they won't lose the winter semester as a result of an instructors' strike that has now stretched to eight days. Rick Miner, president of Seneca College and the head of Ontario's college presidents' association, says the 24 schools will work on a student-by-student, program-by-program basis to make sure class work gets finished once the strike is over. "There is a guarantee that we will work with our faculty, hopefully as soon as possible when they come back off strike, to implement programs to ensure that students complete their semester," said Miner, whose group will run newspaper ads across the province on Wednesday to outline the commitment. The Canadian Federation of Students, however, calls the assurance "meaningless," adding guarantees may look good on paper but they lack specifics. The group says what it really needs is a guarantee students will be reimbursed for extra rent and other costs they may face because of the strike. Talks between management and striking members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) remained stalled Tuesday morning. With no further negotiations currently scheduled, Conservative Leader John Tory says the provincial government must take action to protect the interests of thousands of students. "A lot of them have summer jobs they have to get to. A lot have apartment leases that are going to run out," Tory said. "It's not as simple as just saying, 'Well, if this just goes on a bit, it really doesn't matter.' "How can these people justify … the fact they just aren't talking?" Tory added. "Do we just let that go on forever?" So far, the province has refused to get involved in the contract dispute. Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Chris Bentley has not said if or when the government will intervene, but has called on the two sides to resume negotiations. |
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Mar 14th, 2006, 18:46 | 只看该作者 #51 |
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Ontario colleges announce Semester Completion Strategy for students
TORONTO, March 14 /CNW/ - Ontario's 24 colleges today announced a Semester Completion Strategy that ensures students can complete their semester despite the disruption of the OPSEU strike. "Our priority has to be the students," said Dr. Rick Miner, chair of the colleges' committee of presidents. "Ontario's colleges have today launched the Semester Completion Strategy to ensure students are able to meet their program requirements. "This commitment applies for each student, in each program, at each college." Each college is currently working on the specifics for the plan, and further details will be provided to students next week. The colleges are using strategies and solutions that protect academic quality. The colleges are also committed to ensuring that graduating students are ready for the workforce. The implementation of the Semester Completion Strategy will factor in details such as individual student circumstances and programs of study. The colleges will partner with the professional faculty and all dedicated staff in the college system to ensure a quality educational experience. The implementation of the strategy will vary from college to college. The length of the OPSEU strike will also be a factor in the implementation, and the Semester Completion Strategy will ensure students can still meet their requirements regardless of the length of the strike. Ontario colleges continue to urge OPSEU to end the strike. The colleges have provided a good offer to OPSEU, including a 12.6 per cent pay increase that moves the maximum salary to $94,277 by April 2009, and no increase to workload. "It is important to deliver quality education and training to our students," Miner said. "We want to assure students that we are committed to their academic success." |
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Mar 14th, 2006, 23:18 | 只看该作者 #54 |
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I also think the union is too greedy and hypocritical. They want more teachers to be employed, and reducing the workload. Then just say it. Don't use the quality of education as an excuse. If they really care about the quality of education, then go back educate all the teacher, and make them more qualified for their job.
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Mar 17th, 2006, 13:17 | 只看该作者 #55 |
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复课有望
Contract talks between OPSEU and Ontario?s colleges are set to resume on Monday, March 20 at 9:30 a.m. The news comes after management and the union met this morning (in separate meetings) with Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. 此帖于 Mar 17th, 2006 13:36 被 serenade 编辑。 |
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Mar 22nd, 2006, 17:44 | 只看该作者 #58 |
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ZT from toronto star Mar 22.
下周一应改可以开课了吧 ZT from toronto star Mar 22. College battle turns quiet EDUCATION REPORTER Contract talks are continuing for a third straight day today in an attempt to end a strike at Ontario colleges that has locked more than 150,000 students out of their classes since March 7. The negotiations are taking place under a media blackout. But prior to resuming on Monday morning, the two sides had waged a public battle over the key issues ― class size and faculty workload. The union's message is clear and concise: Improve the quality of education by reducing class sizes through the hiring of more full-time teachers to lower the student-instructor ratio. It also wants class sizes, now averaging about 28, trimmed to 25, and the percentage of part-timers cut from its current level of about one-third to 20 per cent over the life of the new contract. "This isn't a strike for more money or less workload," Ted Montgomery, head of OPSEU's bargaining committee, said in an interview early in the strike. "It's about one issue ― quality." He said meeting those demands would cost the colleges $75 million to $90 million. The colleges, represented at the bargaining table by the College Compensation and Appointments Council, maintained at the outset of this round of talks that its pre-strike position ― a 12.6 per cent wage increase over four years to a maximum $94,277 by April, 2009, and no increased workload from the current average of 14 hours per week in the classroom ― is a good offer. OPSEU has countered that the salary issue is misleading because the average for a full-time teacher is about $76,000 a year. It also accuses the colleges of provoking the strike by coming back to the bargaining table on the eve of the strike with a proposal to remove provisions limiting faculty workloads, which the union says it expects to see increase if the number of students per class is reduced. While admitting that any additional money from Queen's Park would make it easier to get a deal, Montgomery insists the colleges already have enough money as part of a five-year, $6.2 billion investment in post-secondary education made by the province in last May's budget. Even with last year's budget, Ontario college students remain the lowest-funded per capita in Canada. The colleges say the union numbers just don't add up. While the new funding sounds impressive, management representatives say it's important to note that a good chunk of the money was committed to student aid, apprenticeship and training initiatives rather than day-to-day operations. "We've still got a $200 million gap between our two positions," Joy Warkentin, chair of the colleges' bargaining committee, said before talks resumed Monday. "So, both sides have to look at creative solutions." Meanwhile, Centennial College instructor John Stammers, 62, remained in Sunnybrook hospital with life-threatening head injuries yesterday. He hit his head on the pavement after tumbling off a car as it went through a picket line at the school's Progress Campus in Scarborough on Monday. |
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