Union leaders are speaking out against the upcoming merger of Fleming College and St. Lawrence College, citing a lack of transparency from leadership and concerns for potential program and staffing cuts.

“We found out four minutes before the all-staff message went out,” said Marcia Steeves, president of OPSEU Local 351, which represents support staff at Fleming College.

Last Friday (April 10), Fleming College and St. Lawrence College announced they would be voluntarily merging, citing financial sustainability and capacity growth as the reasons for the decision. Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg, and Haliburton, while St. Lawrence College has campus locations in Kingston, Brockville, and Cornwall.

Concerns over lack of consultation and communication

The news of the first merger of colleges in Ontario has seen dissent from faculty and staff staff as well as students, with concerns around process, communication, and student experience.

Following the merger announcement, Steeves spoke to kawarthaNOW about the importance of including staff and student voices in decision-making processes at community colleges.

Steeves said that, despite some early indications that mergers might take place within the college system and that Fleming College might be involved, the union was ultimately unaware of the decision until shortly before it became public.

“What was blindsiding was that there had been no talks with us about it prior to making the announcement,” said Steeves.

Kim Bell, acting president of OPSEU Local 352 representing faculty members at Fleming College, also said there was little communication with their membership prior to the merger announcement.

“There is a strong expectation that faculty should be engaged earlier in decisions of this scale,” Bell wrote in an email to kawarthaNOW,

Similar sentiments were expressed in a media statement released by the Fleming Student Administrative Council (SAC), which represents students at the college. The statement spoke to a desire for increased student involvement and more open communication.

“Our focus is ensuring that students are not left in the dark as this process moves forward,” the statement read.

Frontline perspectives ignored and staff feel sidelined

For her part, Steeves said the union had tried to ask questions about Fleming’s status regarding integration, but there was unwillingness from college administration to share specific details and definitive answers.

Both Steeves and Bell said that staff and faculty have important frontline perspectives that the college should have considered during the decision-making process. Being the people who work most closely with students on a daily basis, they understand the needs of the student body.

“Without that perspective being fully incorporated, there is a risk that decisions may appear efficient on paper but create challenges in practice,” said Bell.

For Steeves, inclusion in these conversations is also a representation of the value placed on staff. She said the lack of involvement of unions “gives staff the feeling that we are not valued as members of the college community.”

Skepticism about merger given history of past program cuts

Both Fleming College and St. Lawrence College have stated that currently enrolled students will be able to complete their studies and there are no immediate plans to change program or certification availability.

However, as Fleming College has eliminated 50 programs since 2023, students and staff are skeptical.

When the college announced the suspension of 29 programs in April 2024, Steeves and then-president of OPSEU Local 352 Liz Mathewson told kawarthaNOW that they were “shocked” by the announcement. At that time, OPSEU called for more transparent and open communication from administration and said that more work needed to be done to involve the unions in decision-making.

Steeves said recent program cuts were in part a response to the federal cap on international student enrolment announced by the federal Liberal government in 2024, which resulted in a 35 per cent reduction in international student visas.

As international students represent a significant revenue source for colleges and universities due to higher tuition fees for such students, many colleges and universities announced program and staffing cuts to deal with deficits from reduced revenues.

According to Steeves, the college system was over-reliant on international students — Fleming College’s 2024-25 annual report indicated that international students constituted 54 per cent of the student body — and didn’t have a plan for dealing with the lost revenue.

“Public education shouldn’t be a profit maker,” Steeves said.

Regarding the potential of future program cuts as a result of the merger with St. Lawrence College, Fleming College states on its website that “Academic programming will be reviewed carefully, and any future decisions will focus on expanding opportunity and helping students succeed.”

Concerns that merger will result in consolidation of programs and staff

While Fleming College has indicated that students enrolled at Fleming would be able to access courses offered by St. Lawrence College and vice versa, Steeves said more clarity is needed on how this process would work in practice, especially considering the multi-campus structure of both colleges.

For her part, Bell further spoke to concerns from faculty and students that the merger will cause further cuts to programs and staff as the colleges work to eliminate duplication of work and align leadership responsibilities with a new organizational structure.

“Mergers typically involve a review of program overlap and organizational structure, which can result in consolidation,” said Bell.

Fleming College and St. Lawrence College have already announced that the merged college will have a single management team, led by St. Lawrence College president and CEO Glenn Vollebregt as the initial president and CEO and Fleming College interim president Theresa Knott as the initial associate president and chief academic officer.

Concerns about merger impact on communities and workforce

Further speaking to potential elimination of programs, Steeves said the community at large must be consulted on what they need from the college and its alumni.

Across Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg, and Haliburton, where Fleming College campuses are located, many municipal and community organizations have strong ties to Fleming College through participatory education and vocational training.

When Fleming College cancelled 29 programs in 2024, the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Home Builders Association expressed their “deep concern” about the impact of the program cuts on the building industry in Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes, as over half of the eliminated programs supported the residential construction industry.

“These are community colleges,” Steeves said. “We need the community to speak up about their needs for their businesses, workplaces, and the community in general.”

In July 2025, OPSEU projected over 10,000 job losses due to cuts and reduced funding in the Ontario college system. Steeves and Bell said that the merger between Fleming College and St. Lawrence College raises new concerns for job losses.

Potential job losses also cause concern for the community at larger, Steeves said. Across its four campuses, Fleming College provides a large number of positions from administration, to program delivery, to student-facing support. Steeves said that college employment opportunities are becoming fewer and many more are part-time roles.

For Steeves, the concern is that “well-paying jobs are now lost.”

Student experience at risk amid merger uncertainty

Steeves emphasized that student need would remain the same regardless of staffing levels. Noting that students are already experiencing long wait times and barriers to access when working with campus services and student supports, she said she is concerned the merger will exacerbate existing problems and negatively affect students’ on-campus experience.

“If there are more cuts, it will be the students who are suffering,” said Steeves.

In its media statement, Fleming SAC also identified a concern about how the merger could impact the “education, campus experience, and future opportunities” of students.

Steeves also spoke about the difficulty of planning for changes created by the merger due to the lack of information, noting the union is still waiting to learn which departments and programs might be impacted by integration.

Bell emphasized the importance of ensuring that the student experience remains at the forefront of change-making decisions during this period of uncertainty.

“Our focus is on ensuring that students continue to have a stable, high-quality experience,” said Bell of the union’s position on the merger.

Merger seen as potential model for sector-wide changes

As the merger of Fleming College and St. Lawrence College is the first in Ontario, there continues to be speculation as to what this could mean for other colleges facing financial instability and declining enrolment.

Recent audits and third-party reports commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities in 2024 and 2025 recommended widespread restructuring, including the potential merger or consolidation of colleges.

Steeves spoke to the importance of pushing for more transparency and active engagement with unions and other stakeholders, and encouraged people to contact elected officials and college leadership to show support for union involvement and workers.

“We know whatever happens here will be used as a footprint for others to follow,” she said.