Media Advisory - North's part-time college support staff to pass judgment on
unfair treatment

SUDBURY/NORTH BAY/SAULT STE. MARIE/TIMMINS, ON, Oct. 8 /CNW/ - Part-time support staff at Cambrian, Boréal, Canadore, Sault and Northern College campuses will pass judgment on the unfair treatment they've received for years when they vote over the next three weeks on whether to join the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

Candy Lindsay , a lead organizer of the province-wide campaign, will be in Sudbury this Friday to discuss this historic vote with part-time support workers and the media. She will be joined by student organizer Kiera Chion and J.L. Roy representing local college workers.

    
          Date:   Friday October 9, 2009

          Time:   1:30 pm

          Place:  OPSEU Regional Office
                  866 Newgate Ave., Sudbury
    

"What does it say about our province when institutions like our colleges offer nothing more than precarious, part-time, temporary work to more than 60 per cent of support staff?" says Lindsay. "We need good jobs with decent wages and benefits in order to raise our families and build strong communities."

The vote is part of the largest union certification vote in Ontario history with up to 10,000 college part timers eligible to cast votes. Almost half of them are students who have no voice and little recognition for what they contribute.

Supervised by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, the vote takes place at: Cambrian's Val Caron and Espanola campuses ( Oct. 14 ) and Sudbury (Oct. 22); Collège Boréal's Sturgeon Falls campus (Oct 13), Sudbury (Oct 14), New Liskeard ( Oct. 19 ) and Hearst (Oct. 20); Canadore's North Bay campus ( Oct. 13 ) and Parry Sound (Oct. 23); Sault on Oct. 15 ; and Northern's Kirkland Lake campus ( Oct. 19 ) and Timmins (Oct. 21). Vote times and locations are available at www.collegeworkers.org.

OPSEU represents over 16,000 full-time support and academic staff at Ontario's colleges.

For further information: Valerie Dugale, [phone] (cell); Candy Lindsay, [phone] (cell), J.L. Roy [phone] (cell)