The Ontario Public Service Employees Union has launched a campaign to make it legal for part-time college employees in Ontario to join a union. Sad but true: the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act legally bars college workers -- faculty and support -- from unionizing if they are working part-time. Obvious result? Some 16,000 people get lower pay (even working for free or, as the employer would have it, for love), no benefits or pensions to speak of, and zero job security beyond the end of the latest temporary contract.

The Liberal Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, a guy named Chris Bentley, refuses to talk about the issue or even acknowledge that the 24 colleges are using scads of part-timers.

For background info, or to subscribe to the campaign newsletter, The Part-Time Times, go to www.collegeworkers.org .To be part of the campaign -- you don't have to be a college worker -- send a message to [email protected].

RR

[ 09 November 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

[ 09 November 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

Yuck. I hope other babblers sign the OPSEU petition.

In the police/military cases, interference with unionization is almost certainly justifiable.

In the case of the part-time workers, I would be surprised if it were.

I think a careful reading of the agricultural case, Dunmore v. Ontario, which can be found here:

http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/index.html

file:///S:/Web%20Master/newsite2004/caat/parttime/chambersletterjun9.htm

...etc. Which is kind of ironic, because no webmaster could be this inept.

Resolve your links, web "master"

By the way, Magoo, if you really want to be helpful you could actually email the webmaster at the address provided on the website: cclayton (at) opseu.org , rather than just making fun of him or her here.

[ 14 November 2005: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

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In the police/military cases, interference with unionization is almost certainly justifiable.

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Why is that so?

[ 14 November 2005: Message edited by: Loretta ]

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In the police/military cases, interference with unionization is almost certainly justifiable.
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Why is that so?

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Because rights are not absolute, but subject to such reasonable limitations, prescribed by law. which can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

The government would have little difficulty in showing why police officers' ability to strike should not be lawful. Police are the guarantors of the public sphere; it is their responsibility to guarantee that citizens may exercise THEIR rights, fully.

Restrictions on police rights to unionize are common in other free and democratic societies.

In fact, I know of none in which police unionization is allowed.

It's also not quite clear to me what the difference is between the Toronto Police Association and a union is. I suspect there are some formal differences, I just don't know what they are.

Please feel free to check out the new, expanded Q&A on the whole issue of college part-timers that we put up yesterday.

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Part-time workers in Ontario's Community College system are prohibited by law from organizing a union in their workplaces.

These workers have created their own association and are working to change the law. You can help by taking 30 seconds to send a message to the Ontario government (a copy goes to the workers), urging them to grant part-time college workers the same rights as most other Canadian workers. Go here to send a message.

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