College Faculty bargaining update: With No Board requested, it’s time to make mediation count

Bargaining Bulletin 16:

Despite nearly 30 days of bargaining, 4 days of conciliation, a historic strike mandate, and 3 days of mediation, the College Employer Council (CEC) continues to table a contract that amounts to a step backward for college faculty, worsening our working conditions – all while helping manufacture a crisis that threatens cuts to frontline members at Ontario’s colleges.

Today, after carefully reviewing our options, we have taken two (2) important steps in response to the College Employer Council’s (CEC) unwillingness to bargain a fair contract without concessions:

  • We requested a No-Board report from the Ministry of Labour.
  • We filed an Unfair Labour Practice complaint with the Ministry of Labour

The no-board report is a lever available to both sides that, once issued, begins a 16-day countdown before labour action, or a lockout, can commence. The terms and conditions of the collective agreement are frozen during this time. Bargaining can continue throughout, and beyond, this countdown.

College faculty will be in a legal position to call for any form of labour action in the new year. 

The unfair labour practice complaint is in response to the CEC bargaining in bad faith. Despite repeated, unmet requests for appropriate disclosure in response to federal and provincial decisions, the CEC and the Colleges have begun implementing imposed terms and conditions that will negatively impact students’ education.

Up until this point, we have utilized every tool at our disposal to propel bargaining towards a contract that improves the working lives of College Faculty across Ontario. The CEC has demonstrated that they will not move forward unless compelled – so push has come to shove.

Members deserve the honest and realistic assessment that the CEC’s repeated unwillingness to bargain freely and fairly is unlikely to change without the urgency of labour action.

We encourage the CEC to review their previous proposals and remove all concessions prior to scheduled mediation on January 6-7, 2025 to make our time together far more productive.

The last decade in the college system has been marked by record profits and runaway administrative bloat. Three times more managers than full-time faculty were added to the college system, while half of our members work contract to contract, have no job security and little to no benefits.

Now, the CEC and the Colleges are implementing an austerity agenda that undermines the bargaining process. Workers should never pay the price for the failure of the Colleges and various governments in mismanaging post-secondary education in Ontario.

There is a better way forward for Ontario colleges, and it will not be championed by the same managers that helped manufacture the current crisis.

Labour action may not stop the CEC and the Colleges from implementing their austerity agenda, but the time has come to fight for on all fronts to save our College system –  restoring a public asset mandated to prioritize quality education and serve the communities where we live and work.

We maintain a genuine willingness to negotiate a contract that meets members’ demands and avoid a disruption to the semester – but we will not settle for a contract worse than the one we have now while the Colleges threaten members with austerity.

Members’ demands remain clear: no concessions, better wages, no more free labour, and enhanced job security protections. We look forward to re-affirming these priorities with the CEC early in the new year.

Solidarity,

Your CAAT-A Bargaining Team:

Ravi Ramkissoonsingh, L242, Chair (he/him)
Michelle Arbour, L125, Acting-Chair (she/her)
Chad Croteau, L110 (he/him)
Bob Delaney, L237 (he/him)
Martin Lee, L415 (he/him)
Sean Lougheed, L657 (he/him)
Rebecca Ward, L732 (she/her)

Stay Informed, Stay Engaged, Get Involved