Conestoga College staff facing uncertain future amid cuts
The start of the next academic year is still weeks away, but staff at Conestoga College are already worried about their future.
Earlier this week, the union representing college employees and faculty members across the province said they were anticipating 'one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario's history' as close to 10,000 people have either been let go or are projected to lose their jobs due to program cancellations and suspensions.
That feeling of impending dread is nothing new to some workers at Conestoga College.
'I'm not surprised,' said Vikki Poirier, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union 238, the union representing support staff at the school. 'We have approximately 190 folks that their last day is going to be next Friday.'
'We don't know what the landscape is going to look like in September,' Poirier explained. 'I do know that there's going to be less support staff that provide services, as well as the foundation support for the college.'
The cuts come after the provincial government decided to drastically reduce the number of international student permits it would approve. When the announcement was made, Conestoga College was specifically mentioned by name, stating, '11 of 24 colleges will keep applications at the 2023 levels. Colleges with public-private college partnerships and Conestoga College will see the largest decline.'
The college has said its allocation of new permits would represent less than 50 per cent of their current international student population. School representatives previously said the change would present a financial challenge.
'The province needs to step up and properly fund the college so that they don't have to resort to a cash flow of international students as their means to an end, in terms of being able to grow and prosper,' Leopold Koff, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union 237, said. That union represents faculty members and counsellors.
Koff told CTV News full-time staff have largely been spared from recent cuts, but part-time, partial load and sessional staff haven't been as lucky.
'Last year, in the spring and summer semester, we had 731 partial load faculty, 1,832 part-time [faculty] and 129 sessional,' he said. 'This spring/summer semester – 240 partial load, 894 part-time and 40 sessional.'
In 2024, Conestoga College faced criticism after it reported a surplus of $251,646,838 – more than double the 2023 surplus of $106,220,863.
At a media conference on Wednesday, J.P. Hornick, the president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, pointed out some college presidents, including Conestoga College President John Tibbits, make large annual salaries, despite espousing the need for budgetary belt tightening.
'There are college presidents collecting salaries of over $400,000, even $600,000. That's more than the Prime Minister of Canada,' Hornick said.
According to Ontario's Sunshine List, Tibbits had the highest public sector salary in the Region of Waterloo. He made $636,106.70 and claimed $3,898.71 in taxable benefits in 2024. His latest salary amounts to a raise of 28.6 per cent compared to the year before.
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's salary in 2024, by comparison, was $406,200.
CTV News reached out to Conestoga College for comment and were, instead, directed to the College Employer Council. The organization is a government-mandated bargaining agent for Ontario's publicly funded colleges for negotiating collective agreements with unionized staff. As of the publishing of this article, no response has been received.
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