Staff and students who rely on the college’s support staff breathed a sigh of relief after union members ratified the new three-year collective bargaining agreement Sept. 22.

Unofficial results have the new deal ratified by a 73 per cent majority of provincial support staff union workers, according to local union president Craig Athrens. Here at Algonquin, the vote was closer – two thirds of local union members voted in favour of the agreement. Two colleges in the province, Cambrian College in Sudbury and Centennial College in Toronto rejected the deal. Province-wide, 72 per cent of eligible voters turned out to exercise their right of judgement on the deal.

“(The support staff) felt they should have done better, but they wanted to settle on an agreement. No one wants to go on strike,” said local union vice-president Jan Strickland. “The offer gives us something to build on. We didn’t really think it was a bad offer, it’s just that inflation is increasing and the cost of everything is skyrocketing. People just want fair compensation for the work they do.”

Among the negotiated benefits are a new system of raises, new benefit programs and clarification of duties for on-call employees. The raise system includes a two per cent increase in September with an additional one per cent increase each April compounded for the duration of the contract.

The system sparked controversy at the union meeting held Sept. 8 as some members did not fully understand how the multi-stage system worked. “I think in some cases people thought it was just a straight percentage increase,” said Strickland. “Once people spoke with other union members, they began to understand how the raises compound on each other.” Athrens is quick to point out only 14 per cent of local union members were present at the last meeting. “The people at the meeting were a small, vocal group,” said Athrens.

“There was a large group of members who had done their research and had already made up their mind.” In addition to monetary compensation, union members now enjoy access to a drug plan that covers 85 per cent of prescription drug costs without brand discrimination.

This means it is not necessary to seek generic drugs in place of established brands. These benefits were all assigned dollar figures for the purposes of negotiations. Athrens points out these costs are often forgotten when members evaluate a new deal. “Other than wages, we now have a drug card which was costed at $221,000 – it was one of the things our membership wanted.”

 “The on-call language (governing the duties of employees who are on-call) was also clarified, which is good because there were issues surrounding on-call employees.” On-call workers will earn $1 an hour for their availability while employees who receive calls from work are now entitled to two hours of overtime if they do not have to return. If a return to campus is necessary, a minimum of four hours overtime will be awarded.

Going forward, union leadership is optimistic about the future of support staff employees and want to work with management for the betterment of student services. “I hope the management here at Algonquin will take a look at the vote and try to work toward bettering our environment,” said Strickland. “We are the ones students rely on day to day. I think the students think we’re important and we really want to go the extra mile for them.”