'Morale has hit an all-time low': Conestoga College union speaks out on layoffs

As Conestoga College faces layoffs and program suspensions, the union leaders representing its employees say the toll on the workers is mounting.

"There is a sense of panicking now," said Vicki Poirier, president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 238, representing Conestoga's support staff.

Across Ontario's 24 public colleges, approximately 10,000 faculty and staff have been laid off or are projected to lose their jobs, OPSEU said Wednesday. According to an arbitration document between OPSEU and the College Employer Council, 23 of the 24 colleges reported a 48 per cent decrease in first-semester enrolment of international students last year. 

The document says the decline and financial troubles are a result of the federally implemented international study permit cap.

"We receive emails daily from our members with how upset they are," said Poirier. "Morale has hit an all-time low."

Poirier's counterpart, Leopold Koff, president of OPSEU Local 237 for faculty counsellors, librarians and partial-load instructors, said the crisis extends across the college, "physically and mentally and spiritually."

"They're tired. They were pushed to the max… and they're very worried as to what the future might hold," Koff told CBC News.

The cuts at Conestoga College have been widespread among both support and academic staff.

"We have approximately 190 affected," said Poirier, adding that there is also a small portion not represented in that number. 

She said some jobs have shaved over 20 roles down to single digits, like student success advisers.

"They don't know how they're going to do their job in the fall," she said.

Poirier said some fields, including writing consultants, were cut altogether.

"That role is gone."

While no formal layoff notices have gone to full-time faculty yet, Koff said the damage is clearest among part-time instructors.