About 100 students from the Nova Scotia Community College’s Akerley Campus walked out during their lunch hour Thursday to demonstrate solidarity with their possibly striking teachers.
Contract negotiations between the province and the union representing NSCC faculty and support staff broke down last week. The union was meeting on Thursday night to decide possible strike dates, but are promising to give students proper notification should it come to that.
Students, some still in their school chef uniforms or coveralls, lined Woodlawn Drive in Dartmouth between noon and 1 p.m. to show their support. A few makeshift loose-leaf-and-highlighter signs could be seen in the crowd, asking drivers to Honk 4 Teachers.
Akerley’s student association president Ian Wood said while students don’t want a strike, they support their faculty’s fight for adequate compensation.
“(We want to) let the media, the general public and the government know that we stand behind the faculty,” he said.
Angelica Audet, a 21-year-old hospitality and tourism student, said she was very concerned about the possibility of losing classes for a prolonged period.
“This is already my second class at college,” she said. “I ain’t going to get a third one. I already messed up once. If they leave, I ain’t going to get to come back.”
Audet stressed that, despite her anxiety over losing the year, she was strongly behind the teachers’ union.
“Absolutely, give them what they need. They work their asses off to teach everyone else that (is) going to be … part of this country,” she said.
“They’re not paying them enough, they’re paying them garbage.”
