Full-time support staff at Ontario colleges prepared to strike as bargaining deadline approaches

Centennial College is shown in Toronto on Wednesday July 9, 2025. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says close to 10,000 college faculty and staff have either been let go or are projected to lose their jobs amid hundreds of program cancellations and suspensions since last year.

Support staff at 24 Ontario colleges are prepared for strike action as early as next week as the deadline approaches on their new contract.

In a news release Monday, OPSEU/SEFPO, the union representing college support staff, said 10,000 full-time workers will be on strike as of 12:01 a.m. on Sept. 11 if a deal is not reached.

“After 21 full days of bargaining, we have yet to reach an agreement that meets our members’ top-line priority: job security,” said Christine Kelsey, chair of the full-time support bargaining team.

“The future of our work is the future of student support on college campuses. After the strain that devastating job cuts have put on those supports, we need some guarantee that we can protect what’s left so students don’t fall through the cracks.”

“College support staff are the foundation of student experience across over 150 job classifications,” added Kelsey. “We represent members in accessibility support services and financial aid offices, dedicated support staff for Indigenous students, electricians and library technicians – amongst so many others.”

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The union accused “years of deliberate government underfunding and administrative mismanagement” for leading to what they call “one of the largest lay-offs in provincial history,” saying more than 10,000 job cuts have been seen across the college system, as over 650 programs have been suspended or cancelled.

“These are good, family-sustaining jobs leaving our communities when unemployment is at a record high in Ontario – especially small communities, where colleges are an economic hub,” said JP Hornick, president of OPSEU/SEFPO.

Hornick added that provincial grants once covered three-quarters of operating expenses when the college system was first engineered in 1967, but said they’ve now fallen to less than a third.

Additionally, the union announced that the bargaining team representing 13,000 part-time college support staff also gave notice that their workers are seeking a province-wide strike vote this semester.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson for the province said: “The Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security is not a party in labour negotiations. We are monitoring the situation closely and remain hopeful that all parties reach a fair deal that puts students first.”

Students are set to head back to the classroom on Tuesday.