We're not holding anyone hostage. The faculty and the students are both being held hostage by a management that refuses to negotiate.
This is the first offer that they have tabled for us in over five days ... they are forcing a strike that they know will happen.
The minister did not threaten us in any way. He didn't read us the riot act or make any similar kinds of comments of any threatening nature whatsoever.
We have chosen the normal kind of arbitration. Why they want this extremely rare and bizarre method, we don't understand except they want to have a winner and loser.
It took two days for the employer to agree to our proposal, but the strike is over.
This is absolutely inexcusable and totally incomprehensible. College management announced their Semester Completion Strategies 12 days ago. It certainly calls into question their competence if, after 12 days of planning, they can't have the colleges up and running on Monday.
This isn't a strike for more money or less workload. It's about one issue - quality.
We hope that the management bargaining team is spending the weekend preparing a better offer for us. We look forward to seeing it Monday morning.
The doors will be open, the faculty will be there and some students will show up, but there won't be any classes at these colleges. It's absurd.
