Ontario's 24 public colleges and the union representing their faculty are in negotiations over their contract. College faculty have declared that they will be on strike as of October 16th, 2017 if a deal is not reached.

The purpose of a strike is to put pressure on the employer. However, as it stands, College administrations have nothing to lose.

Students pay the same tuition regardless of how much time and learning we lose if a strike occurs

Administrators continue to earn their comfortable salaries even if classrooms are empty.

It's a public system, therefore students can't really "take their business elsewhere." The colleges therefore have a monopoly.

Students suffer the most, yet we are not part of the conversation. We lose learning. We lose time. We demand a refund.

Many students work minimum-wage jobs to pay for ever-rising tuition costs that vary between $3,800 - $7,500 for two semesters

Some are mature students with families to care for and bills to pay. Our college education is a ticket to employment.

Parents spend their hard-earned money to invest in their children's education.

We, the 235,000 full-time and over 300,000 part-time students demand a tuition reimbursement for each day lost should a strike occur. At an average tuition of $5,000 for two 13-week semesters, we are paying nearly $40/day to be in school.

Full-time students must be reimbursed $30/day should a strike occur

Part-time students must be reimbursed $20/day should a strike occur

We, the students, want to be in school and we want to learn. We are paying for it. If the two bargaining teams do not consider our educational and employment prospects as motive enough to reach an agreement, then perhaps a justifiable hit to the colleges' bottom line will.

#wepaytolearn