Today’s the day that college students return to the classroom in Ontario after a five-week strike by faculty, and while everyone is saying all the right things about being back to normal, there seems to be an undercurrent of resentment on all sides that won’t go away any time soon.
The discontent is understandable because nobody really got what they wanted out of the labour dispute.
Union representatives told us that it wasn’t really about more money, but I don’t think anyone will refuse the seven per cent wage increase that the colleges offered.
The sticky issue of full-time and part-time ratios wasn’t resolved and given the province’s propensity for penny pinching, it’s not likely to change any time soon.
But the biggest losers in this five-week stalemate are the students.
Many of them have had to endure financial hardship because of the strike and now they’ll face the challenge and stress of a compressed classroom agenda, which could have a negative effect on marks and future employment possibilities.
Simply put, there were no winners here.
It was five costly weeks of wasted time that resolved nothing; five weeks that they’ll never get back.
Five weeks that showed that the students seemed to be the only adults in the room in this unnecessary disruption in their education.
Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML.
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