OPSEU Local 417 + 418 Calls for Transparency from St. Lawrence College About Merger with Fleming College

By Aara Macauley, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist and Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. 

Since the sudden announcement about its planned integration with Fleming College on April 10, 2026, faculty and staff at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Brockville and Cornwall have been seeking answers about future plans for the campuses, and their jobs.

In May, Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 417 reported that 28 full-time faculty members across the three SLC campuses lost their jobs at the college, while an additional 16 faculty were involuntarily transferred to other programs, some at other SLC sites, raising further concerns about the college’s plans for its workers. 

While SLC and Fleming College have said in public statements that they plan to integrate but continue to run under their existing names and  brands, OPSEU/SEFPO Locals 417 and 418 are raising the alarm over leaked audit documents that reference the intended dissolution of St. Lawrence college on March 31, 2027, stating that “[i]t is expected that the College will be dissolved once its assets are transferred into a new College.”

Click here for the full story.