Excerpts 

Hundreds of Toronto families have been left scrambling this week after a provincewide college support workers’ strike caused some child-care centres to shutter. 

Beginning on Thursday, more than 10,000 full-time college support workers in Ontario began walking picket lines after their union, OPSEU, and the College Employer Council (CEC), the bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 colleges, failed to reach a new contract deal.

That decision is impacting college students, as the workers on strike include financial aid professionals, food services staff and lab coordinators — and it’s also impacting Toronto parents. 

As a result of the strike, about 400 children are without their regular daycare. 

George Brown College operates 14 child-care centres citywide. Because of the strike, the college has been forced to cancel all full-day programs at these facilities, which are typically staffed by now-striking early childhood educators and early childhood assistants. (Before and after-care programs operated by the college are not impacted by the strike and remain open.) 

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Workers want improved wages

Nank Chatterpaul, the president of OPSEU Local 557, which represents about 700 striking full-time support workers at George Brown College, said one of the major sticking points for the contract negotiations is wages. 

Chatterpaul said the college’s lowest-paid full-time child-care workers earn $27 per hour, which he said is not nearly enough to be able to afford a home in the city. “It’s a struggle,” he said. 

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Parents and union blame Ford government

Robin Bennett, another parent whose daughter also attends the Parkdale Child Care Centre, said she holds provincial and federal governments responsible for the scramble she and her family are now experiencing as a result of their daycare’s closure. 

Bennett said she believes that if the provincial government were properly funding the post-secondary education system, college workers would not be forced to strike. 

She also believes the federal government’s decision to cap the number of foreign students allowed in the country has put significant pressure on colleges. 

The union has said much the same thing. 

At a press conference at Humber College this week, OPSEU president JP Hornick alleged the provincial government has “sabotaged” the higher education system, leading to thousands of job losses. 

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