CUPE has welcomed the McGuinty government’s decision to freeze university tuition fees but says more funding is needed.
The Liberals have promised $48.1 million more for colleges and universities, but a recent CUPE study suggests the problem of crumbling Ontario universities needs a solution in the order of $1.7 billion.
The CUPE Campus Check-Up found many examples of “deferred maintenance,” leaking roofs, sewer gasses entering buildings, mould and asbestos hazards as well as crowded classes and reduced access to teaching assistants and other resources.
With the lowest operating grants in the country – $6,000 per student compared with a national average of $8,275 – Ontario universities are struggling, says CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan.
But Ryan says the extra funding should allow universities to avoid the 3 to 5 per cent cuts universities were proposing to accommodate the government’s promise to freeze tuition.
“We’ll be watching employers and will make public each and every occasion where they argue for wage reductions, work overload, contracting out or further privatization as a result of the pressure this freeze puts on their operating budgets,” Ryan says.
The chair of the Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, Janice Folk-Dawson, also expressed disappointment that the tuition freeze does not apply to international students.
The Liberals have promised $48.1 million more for colleges and universities, but a recent CUPE study suggests the problem of crumbling Ontario universities needs a solution in the order of $1.7 billion.
The CUPE Campus Check-Up found many examples of “deferred maintenance,” leaking roofs, sewer gasses entering buildings, mould and asbestos hazards as well as crowded classes and reduced access to teaching assistants and other resources.
With the lowest operating grants in the country – $6,000 per student compared with a national average of $8,275 – Ontario universities are struggling, says CUPE Ontario President Sid Ryan.
But Ryan says the extra funding should allow universities to avoid the 3 to 5 per cent cuts universities were proposing to accommodate the government’s promise to freeze tuition.
“We’ll be watching employers and will make public each and every occasion where they argue for wage reductions, work overload, contracting out or further privatization as a result of the pressure this freeze puts on their operating budgets,” Ryan says.
The chair of the Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee, Janice Folk-Dawson, also expressed disappointment that the tuition freeze does not apply to international students.