Bargaining Updates: December 1

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December 1, 2021

Click here to view the latest update video.

Click here for the schedule of important bargaining dates.

 

November 26, 2021

Local 110 Members:

See below for an important message from the CAAT-A Bargaining Team.

Some of you have written to me to ask what you can do. As the Team suggested, you can write to President Peter Devlin and say something along the lines of:

  1. Put the brakes on the private college deal announced today. How can Peter expect Fanshawe faculty to continue to go “above and beyond” to develop curriculum, for the benefit of our students and indirectly our communities, to then only see it shipped out the door so that the owner of a Toronto private college can make a profit from it?
  1. Ask him as one of the 24 college presidents on the CEC Board to call the CEC ask insist they agree to binding arbitration and with no gimmicks attached (such as “final offer selection”). That would end things right there and eliminate any possibility of disruption.

In solidarity,
Darryl Bedford
President, OPSEU 110 (Fanshawe College Faculty Union)

 

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

Greetings faculty:

We have reviewed the College Employer Council team’s latest offers, including their proposal for Final Offer Selection arbitration, received through various email channels this week.

It is important to note that the faculty team offered Voluntary Binding Interest Arbitration – not Final Offer Selection, which we made clear in our presentation to the CEC on November 18.

Final Offer Selection is when the arbitrator is only allowed to choose one side’s offer or the other’s in its entirety. It allows no room for reasoned consideration around the serious issues surrounding each article. It allows no room for compromise, or for selecting the best proposals in each side’s offer. It chooses winners and losers, and therefore leads to toxic labour relations.

Voluntary Binding Interest Arbitration is a very different process that examines every issue under debate within the collective agreement closely, with the arbitrator issuing a ruling on each.

We are also extremely concerned that the CEC put this proposal to the public and members without having conversations at the table first. In other words, the CEC’s behaviour is the exact opposite of good-faith bargaining.

We have now received notice of the “No Board” report from the Ministry-appointed Conciliator, and have reviewed . As we endeavour to clarify and explore next steps with the CEC team, we continue to plan for the upcoming online strike mandate vote, confirmed to take place December 9, 10, and 11.  Detailed instructions will follow, as soon as we receive them from the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

We are also planning two provincewide information sessions for faculty:

  • December 7 from 6:30-8:00 pm:  A session specific to partial-load faculty
  • December 8 from 6:30-8:00 pm:  A session open to all faculty (including partial-load)

In the meantime, the team continues to be happy to attend Local General Membership Meetings and Information Sessions to address member questions and concerns.

In solidarity,
JP, Jonathan, Katie, Michelle, Ravi, Rebecca, Shawn

 

FAQ

Below are some quick answers to common questions faculty have raised about a strike mandate:

Does a successful strike vote mean there will be a full strike?

Despite the CEC’s assertions, the simple answer is no.

A strong strike mandate indicates to the employer that faculty are serious about their demands, and about their willingness to take action to support them.

The faculty team has planned an escalating campaign of labour and other actions to build pressure on the employer, and to be able to respond to attempts by the CEC to impose terms and conditions.

 

Will we be on strike over the holiday break?

No.

 

When will the team call a strike?

The faculty team will not call a strike over the holiday break.  In fact, the faculty team has planned an escalating work-to-rule and labour action campaign to build pressure on the employer and avoid a strike.

 

What would a strike look like now? 

It’s not about walking around (mostly empty) buildings with signs: it’s about recognizing that our collective power comes from the work that we do.  Withholding that work (in various forms) is what will force the employer to recognize its value.

 

Questions you should ask your College President and the CEC team:

  1. Why won’t the CEC team agree to voluntary binding interest arbitration to settle outstanding issues and avoid labour disruption? As a college president, will you tell the CEC team to either bargain faculty’s key demands or agree to send outstanding issues to binding interest arbitration?

 

  1. If the CEC’s offer is fair and reasonable and represents the best they can do this round, why won’t they call a final offer vote?
    • This is something only the CEC team can do, and the results would tell them exactly what faculty think of their offer.

 

  1. Why won’t the CEC team tell faculty whether or not they plan to impose terms and conditions and what those terms will be?

 

Again, we encourage you to read the presentation 25 November 2021 Presentation for Members and infographic BARGAINING INFOGRAPHIC (EN), to better understand the current bargaining situation, and to get a clear sense of each side’s offer.  We look forward to communicating more shortly, once we have had an opportunity to carefully consider the CEC’s latest proposal, as we are similarly reviewing their latest proposed Offer of Settlement.

 

 

 

Proposals and Bulletins

Your bargaining team has shared all of their non-monetary proposals including draft contract language. The union’s proposals are rooted in feedback from consultations with faculty and students; existing best practices in our system and in other post-secondary education (PSE) institutions; model language from and discussions with Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and other PSE leaders; and through review of both the language proposed by the locals this round, along with language that has been tabled previously. It is all backed by research and bolstered by the findings in the updated Report on Education.

Prior Union Proposals

 

 

Current Union Proposal

For further updates, see collegefaculty.org

 

Management Proposals

Videos

 

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