Union asks the province to step in amid layoffs at Conestoga College

Union members at Conestoga College are hoping to province will step in amid the latest slew of layoffs. CTV’s Alexandra Holyk reports.

The union that represents faculty and support staff at Ontario colleges has officially asked the provincial government to step in after hundreds of people who had been working at Conestoga College lost their jobs.

The now former employees received their layoffs notices last week, just days before the holidays. All told, 181 full-time faculty and 197 support staff were impacted by the change.

“We’ve just lost over 20 per cent of our experienced, full-time faculty right before the holidays,” Leopold Koff, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 237, which represents faculty at Conestoga College, wrote in a news release. “And the chilling reality is that college leadership is restructuring the workforce to push precarity.”

“It’s inhumane, it’s union-busting, and we aren’t willing to tolerate this any longer,” Koff said.

Koff worried full-time responsibilities would be handed to contract faculty who do not have the same level of job security.

“Where’s the human element in all of this? It doesn’t seem to be existing. Just before Christmas - people are angry,” Koff said in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday.

The union is planning to hold a vote of non-confidence in college leadership in the new year.

“This is a deliberate move to ensure we foot the bill alongside students for management’s fiscal irresponsibility and lack of transparency,” Vikki Poirier, the president of OPSEU Local 238, the union representing support staff, said. Poirier was one of the employees who received a layoff notice last week.

“It’s time to, as a union, hold the province accountable and ask them to step in and really take a look at what is going on at Conestoga College,” Poirier said in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday. “I’m not sure how they can turn a blind eye to what has been going on.”

“We all want to be proud of where we work and what we represent and what the institution has represented in the past,” Koff said. “But now there’s a stain on it and we know what that stain is and we want that stain to be removed so we can move forward and change Conestoga and try to return it back to what its role and its objectives should be. The only way to do that is to replace, certainly, the executive and possibly even the board.”

Conestoga College representatives have repeatedly insisted the school, and many other colleges across the province, are facing financial hardships brought about by a decline in international enrolment. That change is being blamed on the federal government’s cap on international student visas.

In a report sent to students and staff on July 28, Conestoga College said 8,584 international students were enrolled in its 2025 spring semester. That marked a 62 per cent drop from the year before, when it totaled 22,633.

However, union representatives have repeatedly blamed the hardships on John Tibbits, the school’s president, and accused him of mismanagement. Under Tibbits’ leadership, the college’s enrolment numbers soared, largely due to international students. He also faced criticism for how those soaring enrolment numbers impacted the surrounding communities, including concerns about housing options and employment opportunities.

“John Tibbits broke trust with the college community and violated every social contract governing ethical student recruitment,” said JP Hornick, President of OPSEU/SEFPO. “The fact that he has not been removed from his post reflects poorly on Ontario’s international reputation.”

Tibbits pulled in a salary of $636,107 in 2024, according to Ontario’s latest Sunshine List.

In September, Conestoga announced the first steps had been taken in the search for a new president and CEO. It will be the school’s first leadership change in nearly 40 years as Tibbits has been at the helm of the college since 1987. An internal notice to staff said the goal is to have a new president appointed in March 2026.

The union did not say specifically what they want the province to do, but called for “immediate intervention.”

“All decisions related to staffing, human resources, operational and budgeting lie solely with each institution,” Bianca Giacoboni, press secretary for the Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, said in a statement.

Koff called the response from the province “shameful” while Poirier said, “That’s ridiculous. Way to pass the buck yet again.”