Strike pay eligibility

• Members who perform 4 or more hours of strike duty per day and a total of 20 hours per week are eligible for strike pay.

How will strike payments be made?

• OPSEU/SEFPO will send stirke and dependent pay by direct deposit. You must add your dependent information and complete the direct deposit authorization form in the OPSEU member portal

How much is strike pay?

• OPSEU/SEFPO pays

  • Week 1-3 maximum: $450 per week + $125 per dependent

  • Week 4+ maximum: $550 per week + $125 per dependent

• Local 241 pays a top-up amount from our local fund.

  • Local top-up amount to be determined.

Who are eligible dependents?

• a non-income-earning spouse (excluding a spouse on strike). If both spouses are on strike, both may claim the dependents.

• a child under 18 (or under 26 if attending school full-time) OR a dependent child as defined by the collective agreement or benefit plan

• a disabled family member or

• an elderly family member who normally receives financial support from the striking member.

Can I picket at another campus or college that's closer to where I live?

• Yes. The process to join another Local's picket line will be determined soon. 

What is the picketing schedule and expectations?

• Members are expected to picket one shift per day, five days a week. 

• Flexibility will be needed for coverage at the most visible locations, with adjustments to coverage being made as needed.

• Adjustments for disability or human rights accommodations can be made. 

I require a disability or human rights accommodation for picket duties.

• Fill out the accommodation form. A member of the accommodations committee will reach out to discuss alternative duties before the strike. 

Will benefits continue during the strike?

• To be determined. OPSEU/SEFPO will negotiate with the CEC to continue benefits for members before the strike. 

• Refill prescriptions and use your benefits before the strike. 

Will the parental leave top-up continue during the strike?

• No. EI benefits will not be impacted. Any member on parental leave can picket to receive strike and dependent pay. 

Will Short-Term Disability continue during the strike?

• At this time, short-term disability is paid by the employer and will not continue during a strike.

• The union will ensure that any impacted members are appropriately accommodated to receive strike and dependent pay. 

Will pension contributions continue during the strike?

• No. Pension contributions will stop during the strike.

OPSEU/SEFPO Staff will have financial relief letters, specific to your home bank, available for members upon request. 

Members experiencing extreme financial hardship should reach out to their Local’s Hardship Relief subcommittee for emergency relief.

• Mortgage or Rent: Talk to your bank, credit union, or landlord to negotiate a plan.

• Taxes: Ask your municipality if you can defer property taxes.

• Utilities: Approach each one with a request to defer at least part of the charges.

• Loans: Ask the lender about a deferral. If that’s not possible, consider refinancing to reduce the payments.

• Credit Cards: Investigate all other avenues before carrying balances on your credit cards.

• Insurance: Look for ways to spread out payments

We acknowledge the hardship being on strike can cause, especially when our wages have not kept up with inflation over many year. We will all feel that hardship. 

Working through a strike undermines the efforts of your co-workers fighting for improvements to your own employment contract. 

Many of us are living pay cheque to pay cheque. This is a sign that your employer is not paying you fairly, and a strike may be the only way to change that. If you can't afford to strike, you can't afford not to. The best way to earn money during a strike is on the picket line.

Any wages earned by a strikebreaking member could be subject to fines, as per OPSEU's Constitution:

OPSEU Constitution Article 30: Strikebreaking

30.1.1 After giving reasonable written notice of a membership meeting to all Members of a Local for whom the Local has addresses, such notice to specify the purpose of the meeting and naming the Member(s) who is/are accused, and after all attending Members (and especially the accused) have had a reasonable opportunity to present their views, such local membership meeting may vote by a two-thirds majority to declare that a Member of that Local has engaged in strikebreaking, on more than one occasion, during a given legal strike by the Local.

30.2.1 The assessment for damages to the Union for strikebreaking shall be an amount equal to 100 per cent of the strikebreaker’s wages earned during the strike, to a maximum of $10,000 in consideration of the harm to the Union caused by the strikebreaker’s action.

30.2.2 The strikebreaker will be suspended from membership, removed from any Union office currently held, and the Member’s name will be recorded on a central public registry. These penalties shall remain in effect until the assessment in Art. 30.2.1 has either been paid or collected, if necessary, through enforcement in civil court.

30.3 The Member so penalized and/or assessed damages shall have the right to appeal to the Executive Board, which, after hearing all relevant evidence and arguments, shall have the authority to confirm, vary or nullify the penalty and/or forgive or vary the assessed damages, as it may in its discretion decide. After a period of one year from the date of imposition of the assessment set out in Article 30.2.1, and the penalty set out in Article 30.2.2, an individual may apply to their Local for the penalty to be lifted and/or the assessment to be forgiven. The Local may decide to confirm, vary or nullify the penalty and/or forgive or vary the assessed damages at its discretion.