Stop distracting, start bargaining: we’re ready to make progress
On Friday, College Faculty voted to authorize strike action, if necessary, to reach a fair agreement. Through a historic turnout – 76.1% – 79% of voters delivered a strong mandate determined by a true majority of all members.
During talks, it was OPSEU/SEFPO that initially raised the prospect of a limited pause on any escalation by both parties following the strike vote, so that we could continue discussions in conciliation, and ensure that negotiations could continue without risk to student’s semesters. We even agreed to mediation (not binding interest arbitration) as a potential solution to help both sides move closer on key issues.
Disappointingly, but not surprisingly, the CEC has mischaracterized these recent events, breaking confidentiality, and announcing an offer of interest arbitration following the democratic decision of faculty members to deliver a strong strike mandate. They are pushing dangerous concessions, and they know that moving to binding interest arbitration at this point would be the easiest way to achieve their agenda – including the loss of asynchronous teaching hours, dramatic cuts to assigned evaluation and preparation hours, new probationary language for partial-load faculty, and dramatic changes to the academic year.
Accepting binding interest arbitration would give up our right to strike and sacrifice our ability to stand behind faculty proposals through member-driven bargaining.
As said in 2021 by Graham Lloyd, CEO of the CEC, “In a labour relations context, the parties have the fundamental obligation to bargain. Delegating that obligation to an arbitrator abdicates our shared responsibility.”
The CEC’s announcement is a knee jerk reaction to college faculty making history with the biggest show of collective power to date. With the CEC on their backfoot, they hope we will all blink. However, our focus is clear: bargaining for a fair, negotiated settlement that does not sacrifice hard-fought rights, and which achieves real gains to our wages and working conditions.
No more concessions: we need material improvements
College faculty don’t want to strike. We need a fair agreement that makes headway on workload language that has collected dust for 40 years. We need contract improvements that curb precarity and allow members to keep up in an affordability crisis. We want a willing party on the other side of the table, prepared to bargain fairly.
In no uncertain terms, a strike mandate sends the strongest possible message: drop your concessions and bargain our proposals fairly at the table. Under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA), a strike mandate is also members’ only legal protection should the CEC seek to impose terms and conditions.
We urge the College Employer Council (CEC) to listen to the teachers, librarians, and counsellors who bring students’ educational experience to life.
Members know that we cannot give up hard-fought rights by accepting concession language. Our rights today were bargained by yesterday’s members, and they are not ours to give away. They belong not just to us, but the generations of workers that will come after.
We will not sacrifice student learning conditions – shaped through our working conditions – by accepting concessions which risk increased employment instability, encroachment on vacation, real time cuts to wages, reduced time for teaching, and further increases to workload.
Why avoid binding interest arbitration now?
Not only would binding interest arbitration give up our right to strike and bargain, but it also risks cementing the CEC’s serious concessions into contract language through an external legal decision.
The CEC was quick to quote OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick speaking about accepting binding interest arbitration in 2022 – when circumstances were vastly different.
In 2021-2022, Bill 124 prevented free and fair collective bargaining by sharply constraining wage increases. This view was subsequently validated by the Superior Court of Justice, and later upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal. We were also in the midst of a global pandemic, struggling to respond to various challenges and crises raised by COVID-19.
Given the barriers to bargaining freely, members looked at alternative solutions – like taking outstanding issues to binding interest arbitration.
But, according to OPSEU/SEFPO President JP Hornick, there should be no barriers to bargaining a renewal collective agreement in 2024, with a focus on implementing recommendations from the Workload Task Force – mandated at the end of the last round to inform bargaining now.
“With an accumulated surplus of $1 billion over the last year alone, the Colleges have the resources to fulfill their core mandate: training Ontario’s future workforce through teaching, learning, and student support,” said Hornick. “There’s enough money to prioritize quality education, while responsibly navigating any uncertainty. Faculty and students will continue to stand strong and demand it.”
While things are different today than in 2021-2022, one thing remains the same: the CEC is favouring distractions over their duty to bargain with the clear, collective voice of members standing together.
No more shortchanging student and faculty futures
The CEC’s latest communication is a reckless attempt to provoke a response from the bargaining team. In addition to breaking confidentiality and mischaracterizing bargaining, the CEC continues to promote grossly inflated and unsubstantiated costing of faculty proposals. It’s a tired tactic. We’ve asked for the breakdown (in person and via email) regarding their costing of our proposals to which Lloyd himself declined outright at the bargaining table on October 8. They continue to publish this figure without substantiation. However, this does suggest that the CEC understands that the system is being supported by free labour that has gone unrecognized since workload formulas were last updated in 1985.
In the proud shadow of Friday’s historic strike mandate – a crucial step closer towards a fair, negotiated settlement – we encourage members and students alike to continue discussing the important issues defining this bargaining round because our working conditions and students’ learning conditions are tied at the hip.
We are stronger together, and we will get the contract we stand for.
In solidarity,
Your CAAT-A Bargaining Team
Click on the title page below for a slideshow of the Partial Load proposals and concessions
Click on the title page below for a slideshow of the Full-time Workload proposals and concessions
Important strike mandate vote info
A strike vote will be held the week of October 15, 2024 for college faculty members represented by OPSEU/SEFPO starting October 15, 2024.
The union has no choice but to seek a strike mandate should job action become necessary. The collective agreement for college faculty expires on September 30, 2024. Therefore, OPSEU/SEFPO asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to schedule the online strike vote.
The strike vote will be held over the course of 3 days, October 15th at 12 pm until the 17th at 3pm. The secret ballot vote will be conducted virtually. You will receive a PIN code and voting instructions from the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) closer to the vote. You will need only to log onto a website, enter your code and cast your ballot anytime between October 15th at 9am and October 17th before 3pm. The voting process is easy and confidential.
Frequently Asked Questions – Strike Vote
1. When will the strike vote take place? How will I cast my ballot?
The vote will take place from 12 noon on October 15 to 3 p.m. on October 17, 2024. Members can vote anytime during that period. It will be online or by phone through the Simply Voting electronic voting platform. Each eligible voter will be given a unique elector ID number and password PIN to cast their ballot.
2. Who is eligible to vote?
All full-time and partial-load professors and instructors and all full-time librarians and counsellors are eligible to vote and should receive a communication directly from the OLRB with their PIN and voting instructions.
This includes:
- members actively employed at the college
- members on recall or who have a grievance outstanding
- members on approved leave, as enshrined in the collective agreement or in law (disability leave, pregnancy/parental leave)
3. I am a College Faculty member, how do I verify that I will be able to cast a ballot in the strike vote?
OPSEU has been working with the College Faculty local presidents at each college to ensure that each member eligible to cast a ballot is on the voter list.
4. What should I do if I am eligible to vote and don’t receive a communication from the OLRB?
You can contact the OLRB Voting Help Desk by telephone at 416-326-7432 (English), 416-326-0313 (French). When you contact them, you can indicate that you are calling about the strike vote in OLRB case number 1526-24-VO. They can assist you in being added to the voters list.
5. Does voting yes mean that we are going on strike?
A strong strike vote doesn’t mean that we are automatically going on strike. It shows that we’re reading and willing to strike if we need to. Strike action can range from work-to-rule to a full withdrawal of services. A strong strike vote gives our bargaining team more power and leverage to achieve a fair collective agreement and enables us to respond to employer threats such as making unilateral changes to the collective agreement. Under the CCBA, both parties are required to provide five (5) days’ notice before commencing a labour action (including a lockout or strike.)
6. Is my ballot confidential?
Yes, your ballot is confidential, and the vote is supervised by the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
7. Does the bargaining team recommend that I vote to authorize the team to call a strike?
Yes, the team unanimously recommends that all members vote yes to authorize the team to call a strike, if necessary.
8. What will the strike ballot say? What choices will be given?
The strike vote ballot will give each eligible voter the option, in French and English, to choose either <“I authorize the bargaining team to call a strike, if necessary> or <”I do not authorize the bargaining team to call a strike, if necessary”>.
9. What involvement do OPSEU and the CEC have in the strike vote?
OPSEU requested that the vote be held. The CEC provided a list of voters obtained from the Colleges to OPSEU for validation. The list was then provided to the OLRB. The OLRB alone conducts the vote and OPSEU and the CEC have no involvement in that process.
10. How will the outcome of the strike vote be determined?
In order to engage in a strike or other labour action such as work-to-rule, OPSEU must obtain 50% plus 1 vote support from among the ballots cast in the strike vote. The majority of votes cast will determine the outcome.
11. If I have a problem casting my ballot, whom would I call for help?
You can contact the OLRB Voting Help Desk by telephone at 416-326-7432 (English), 416-326-0313 (French). When you contact them, you can indicate that you are calling about the strike vote in OLRB case number 1526-24-VO. They can assist you with any problems casting your ballot. Help Desk Hours: October 15 – 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, October 16 – 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, October 17 – 9:30 am to 11:00 am
12. If I work at multiple colleges and I get multiple PINs, can I vote multiple times?
No, you are only allowed to vote once as a member of the bargaining unit. The OLRB will find your vote with the email address you used and will count that one vote as official. If you vote multiples times using multiple PINs, that will be considered a spoiled ballot and will not be counted.
13. Will anyone know how I voted?
No. The vote is entirely by secret ballot and you will not be personally associated with the vote that you cast.
14. Will I be subject to disciplined or dismissed for how I vote?
No. The vote is entirely by secret ballot and you will not be personally associated with the vote that you cast.
15. When will the results of the vote be released?
Strike vote results will be communicated in a bulletin to members and will be posted to the OPSEU/SEFPO website once publicly available.
Local 354 virtual bargaining/strike mandate info sessions happening Wed. Sept. 25
As you may have heard, bargaining has been proceeding slowly and your CAAT-A bargaining team has asked for a provincial conciliator to step in and stop the stalling from the CEC. You may have also read that this move will also trigger a strike mandate vote, which is expected in mid October. This is a critical time in negotiations and we want to make sure you have all the information needed to make an informed choice when that vote is called.
To that end, we are organizing two virtual drop-in chats on Wednesday, Sept. 25th, to discuss the latest bargaining news and why a strong strike mandate is so important. Please take time to join us virtually on the 25th between either 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feel free to come with any and all questions you may have.
Below are the links for each meeting. There is no formal agenda for the meetings, so feel free to drop in whenever you can.
Wednesday, Sept. 25th:
11 a.m. – 1 p.m. drop-in: https://meet.google.com/ogs-skoi-noh
6 p.m. – 8 p.m. drop-in: https://meet.google.com/arf-uwmd-rad
Fall General Membership Meeting Thursday Oct. 3 @ 6:30 p.m.
Please plan to also join us online Thursday, Oct. 3 at 6:30 p.m. for our fall general membership meeting (GMM). This will be another chance to get the very latest bargaining news, as well as to stay on top of all the other issues facing us this year. We also want to hear from you about any concerns you might have with workload, safety, enrolment or anything else. We can only act on the issues we know about, so your feedback is critically important to the work we do on your behalf.
To register for the Oct. 3rd GMM and to receive a video link and full agenda, please RSVP to office@opseu354.ca
Province-wide town hall on Workload Task Force report Sept. 12 @ 5:30 p.m.
Feeling tired or overwhelmed with work? There may be a very good reason for that. Find out the details this Thursday, Sept. 12 at 5:30 p.m. for the provincial town hall on the results of the Workload Task Force Report. Use the link below to register for the virtual meeting on Zoom. https://opseu-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VefjSLplRZ2HmWa8iFEGwQ#/registration
Show your support for bargaining and the work we do
Please download and use CAAT-A college bargaining graphics. Link below includes graphics for your social feeds, video chat background and headers and footers for your correspondence.
https://opseu.org/information/tools-and-resources/college-faculty-caat-a-2024-graphics/241810