Classes cancelled at Conestoga college campus amid support workers’ strike

An Ontario college says all on-campus classes and activities are cancelled today as striking support staff continue to hold rallies at several colleges across the province. 

Conestoga College says its Doon campus in Kitchener, Ont., is closed to all vehicle traffic and in-person classes and activities are suspended.

The college says that’s because of “large-scale” picketing activity on campus as part of a co-ordinated campaign by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union that represents 10,000 full-time college support staff across the province who have been on strike since Sept. 11.

The striking workers from across the Greater Toronto Area also rallied at Centennial College’s Progress campus in Toronto on Monday. 

Similar co-ordinated actions took place across Ontario last week and saw Mohawk College in Hamilton and St. Clair College in Windsor, Ont., suspend in-person classes and activities at some campuses.

OPSEU says job security remains a critical concern amid campus closures and layoffs in the college sector.

The College Employer Council, which represents Ontario’s 24 publicly funded colleges, said last week it was frustrated after the union’s bargaining team “abruptly reversed course during mediation talks, derailing progress.”

The council said it offered improvements to wages, on-call pay and bereavement leave, among other things. 

Colleges in Ontario have been increasingly relying on tuition from international students for several years due to low levels of provincial government funding and a years-long tuition freeze, and have been struggling since the federal government enacted a lower cap on international students.

The College Employer Council has stated that the union’s demands would expose colleges to more than $900 million in additional costs, although the union disputes that figure.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2025.