OPSEU & CEC AGREE TO BINDING INTEREST ARBITRATION
On March 17, 2022, at 10:45pm, both College Employer (CEC) and Faculty (OPSEU) bargaining teams agreed to Binding Interest Arbitration.
The College Deadline will be ended, effective immediately.
CSA has been calling for both sides to agree to Binding Interest Arbitration since November 2021, and we are pleased to see both sides put #StudentsFirst!
#StudentsFirst
OPSEU & CEC AGREE TO
RETURN TO NEGOTIATIONS
On March 16, 2022, both College Employer (CEC) and Faculty (OPSEU) bargaining teams have agreed to meet virtually on:
This meeting will be supervised by a Ministry of Labour Mediator.
This marks the first time both sides have agreed to negotiate since talks ended in late November 2021.
EMPLOYER RESPONDS
TO STRIKE DEADLINE
On March 15, 2022, the College Employer Council (CEC) responded to the Faculty Strike Deadline announcement.
In their statement, while it criticized the Union's demands, CEC formally wrote to OPSEU, calling on them to return to negotiations as soon as:
#StudentsFirst
FACULTY SETS STRIKE DEADLINE
On March 14, 2022, the Ontario College Faculty announced that unless the College Employer agrees to voluntary binding interest arbitration, they will initiate a strike on:
In response, CSA issued an open letter to the Minister of Colleges & Universities, Jill Dunlop, calling on the Province to act and provide stability for students.
#StudentsFirst
PHASE 3 BEGINS
As of March 2, 2022, the Ontario College Faculty initiated Phase 3 of the current Work-to-Rule labour action.
Phase 3 actions include:
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No multi-modal ("hy-flex") delivery this semester
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No shared recordings using college-run systems
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No grading during Reading Week
For more details, click the button below.
FACULTY REJECTS FINAL OFFER
On Feb 22, the Ontario College Faculty voted to reject the contract offer from the College Employer.
62 per cent of faculty voted to reject the CEC's latest offer (unchanged since Nov 2021).
The OPSEU Bargaining team has since issued a call for CEC to return to negotiations, or enter into voluntary binding interest arbitration.
CEC has responded by acknowledging that while both parties have the responsibility to negotiate a settlement, they are not willing to negotiate at this time.
#StudentsFirst
EMPLOYER BARGAINING TOWNHALL
PARTICIPATING MEMBERS OF EMPLOYER BARGAINING TEAM
Graham Lloyd
CEO
Laurie Rancourt
Chair
Stephanie Ball
Vice-Chair
Abby Radovski
Dir. of Comms
#StudentsFirst
FACULTY BARGAINING TOWNHALL
PARTICIPATING MEMBERS OF FACULTY BARGAINING TEAM
JP Hornick
Chair
Jonathan Singer
Vice-Chair
Ravi Ramkissoonsingh
Member
Shawn Pentecost
Member
Michelle Arbour
Member
#StudentsFirst
WHAT IS A FINAL OFFER VOTE?
AS OF FEBRUARY 4, 2022
The upcoming vote will occur between Feb 15-17, and can only be used by the Employer once.
Last month, the College Employer Council (CEC) called for a contract ratification vote, also called a "Final Offer Vote" or "Forced Offer Vote".
This means that the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) will require Faculty to vote, where they will either accept or reject the Employer's most recent offer (unchanged since Nov 2021).
Should the majority of faculty vote in favour of the offer, the current job action ("Work-to-Rule") would end, and a new collective agreement would be established.
If faculty vote against it, job action would continue.
#StudentsFirst
WHAT IS WORK TO RULE?
On Monday Jan 3rd, College Faculty initiated Phase 2 of their "Work-to-Rule" labour action.
This phase requires that faculty follow the strictest terms of their contracts. For faculty, this means limiting additional activities not included in their contracts, such as: unpaid meetings, workshops, overtime work, etc.
The intention behind this phase of "Work-to-Rule" is to put pressure on the Employer to return to negotiations and agree to Binding Arbitration.
WHAT IS INTEREST ARBITRATION?
#StudentsFirst
STUDENTS BELONG IN THE CLASSROOM
As the only college student-focused advocacy group in Ontario, we are putting continuous public pressure on OPSEU and CEC to agree to Binding Arbitration while also sharing updates with students through our online resources.
EXTRA RESOURCES
FAST FACTS
ABOUT THE STRIKE
ABOUT CSA
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Most of the answers to student questions are institution specific. This means a student's first place to get information should be their college.
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The College Employer Council (CEC) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) have been negotiating a new collective agreement since June 10 2021, which continued past the previous agreement expiration date of Sept. 30 2021.
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On Nov 18, 2021, CEC filed "no-board" report, which began countdown towards an "Imposition" or "Lock Out" action.
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On Dec. 11 2021, college faculty across Ontario voted 59% in favour of taking strike action.
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On Jan 3 2022, college faculty initiated a "Work-to-Rule", which is a phased, escalating labour action targeting solely the administration. OPSEU has stated the intention of "Work-to-Rule" is to put pressure on the Employer to agree to "Binding Arbitration".
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Under "Work-to-Rule", classes will continue as scheduled.
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It is in no one’s best interest for the government to intervene with back to work legislation; if a deal isn’t reached, a strike could happen next year, too.
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College students have never lost a semester due to a faculty strike.
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College Student Alliance (CSA) advocates on behalf of Ontario college students in partnership with student leaders.
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The CSA membership is comprised of Ontario student associations.
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Through member student associations, CSA represents the collective voice of Ontario's college students.
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CSA's advocacy focuses on five pillars: affordability, accessibility, accountability, transferability, and quality.
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CSA is the only provincial advocacy group focused on college students, and the organization has been advocating on behalf of Ontario's college students for over 40 years.
#STUDENTSFIRST
