St. Clair College has cancelled classes on Thursday at its South Windsor campus out of an abundance of caution because of protests.
The Windsor Police have deployed multiple officers to the campus to maintain public safety and ensure traffic flow remains uninterrupted.
The Ontario Public Service Employee Union organized the Day of Action to support striking full-time support staff at public colleges across Ontario, drawing attention to ongoing job action over unresolved contract negotiations.
The protest, which aims to highlight these labor issues, started at 7 a.m. in the parking lot off of Cabana Road.
Senior Vice President of Communications, Advancement, and External Affairs, John Fairley, says members of other unions have joined the striking workers on the picket line.
"Today there's a day of action with our striking support staff, who are being joined on the picket lines by other unions, as well as members of other striking support staff at Lambton and Fanshawe College," he said.
Many students joined support staff on the picket line, while others voiced their frustration over missing important class time and resources.
"I understand it is for the students, but it has kind of made our lives at school a little bit harder," said first-year nursing student Madyson Butlar. "We have lab classes every week and the lab-techs aren't there, so it's made that a lot harder, we can't go in and practice like they encourage us to."
Don Smith, President of OPSEU Local 137, representing workers at St. Clair College, had this message for students.
"We want to be back to work to give you the experience that you paid for at the college. We want to be back in there to support you," said Smith. "If you want to have your voice heard, reach out to college administration; they're the ones who can direct council to get back to the table."
Transit Windsor has reported delays on multiple routes, including LaSalle 25, Route 115, Route 205, Route 240, Route 305, Route 518X, Route 1000, and LTW 42, due to ongoing strike action at the college.
Fairley expects classes to run on Friday.
