Unions call for transparency and to suspend layoffs following audit of Conestoga College

After the province appointed an administrator at Conestoga College, CTV’s Colton Wiens takes a look at what could come next.

The board of governors has been ousted and a provincially appointed administrator will be working at Conestoga College.

But what comes next?

Unions representing employees at the school are hoping for change, but they are also skeptical of the timing.

“This is how I have felt for the past few years,” Vikki Poirier, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 238, said. The union represents support staff at Conestoga College. “It almost feels like you’re swimming upstream. So, to finally have this validation that our members are not crazy.”

Poirier said she spoke to Premier Doug Ford on Friday morning. She said she questioned why the decision to intervene was made now and asked for more transparency.“The public release of the financial audited data, a fresh board of government – but a fresh board of governors with community input into the selection process, that $3 million or however much it was that was paid out should be returned,” Poirier said, referencing a large exit package that was given to former Conestoga College president John Tibbits.

“Locally, my members are calling for the removal of John Tibbits’ name on the Waterloo campus building,” she added.

The province has said Tibbits’ skyrocketing salary prompted an audit into the school’s decisions around finances and governance. A news release from the province said “numerous egregious financial decisions” were uncovered.

Poirier said Ford told her the province is stepping in to be more transparent.

But another local union leader questioned the timing.

“[The] consensus on everyone’s part from the first announcement to the almost immediate second announcement was that this is all staged,” OPSEU Local 237 President Leopold Koff alleged. “This is not an accident. This leak was intentional. I think that the administrator was already waiting for the call, officially, for her to take her post. This seems to be staged.”

Koff believes the decision feels like government overreach.

“Instead of having a publicly funded or community-based selection of board of governors, it’s now a one-person board of governors now who is like a turnaround CEO. We don’t know what the intentions of this administrator are going to be,” Koff said.

Request to pause layoff process

Koff’s union represents faculty at the school. In December, 181 full-time faculty members and 197 support staff received layoff notices just before Christmas.

On Friday, the union sent a letter to college management asking them to pause the layoff process.

“We would like to suspend any further layoffs which were pending for full-time faculty,” Koff said.

Reputational concerns

The unions said their remaining members continue to do their best to serve the students at the school, but they are concerned about Conestoga College’s reputation.

“We’re embarrassed about this, the taint,” Poirier said. “I do not wear Conestoga College gear. I am embarrassed. I am there to support our members. I am there to make sure that the students have the experience that I had as a Conestoga College graduate.”

“Yes, there’s going to be a concern about the reputation, but the only way to fix it is for us to do a clean sweep and turn everything around with a new CEO who has the right vision, the right direction and works collaboratively with all stakeholders and parties to bring the college’s reputation back again,” Koff said.

Both Poirier and Koff want their unions to be involved in the selection of a new board of governors.

The province hasn’t said how long the administrator will be working at Conestoga College or what the plans are for the school’s future governance.