2024 College Faculty Bargaining

Ontario college professors, librarians and counsellors (faculty) are unionized as the College of Applied Art and Technology – Academic (CAAT-A) and are represented by the Ontario Public Service Employee Union (OPSEU). Their work is negotiated through Collective Agreements, an employment contract between academic staff and Ontario colleges, who are represented by the College Employer Council (CEC). The current Collective Agreement is set to expire on September 30, 2024.

Since July 2024, OPSEU and the CEC have been engaging in meetings to negotiate a new Collective Agreement to replace the one set to expire in September 2024. During the negotiation process, both sides have been suggesting changes to their Collective Agreement, offering counter-proposals, and discussing how to strengthen Ontario's Colleges for all parties. Their discussions have been focused on workload, academic freedom, job security, equity, professional development, grievance processes, and much more.

As your student association, we are advocating to encourage both sides to continue the bargaining process to ensure there is no/minimal disruption to your student experience.

We also want to provide you with an explanation of what has already happened and what could happen in the near future. We have created this webpage to keep you updated on the negotiation process and answer common questions.

We will continue to post updates to this page and on social media as they are available. 

 

What has happened so far? 

Date	What Happened?
July 2, 2024	Notice to Bargain was served on July 2, 2024, by OPSEU team to the CEC.
July 15-16, 2024	The bargaining process between the CEC and OPSEU began. The CEC received Union proposals on workload, partial-load employees, and coordinators.
July 22-26, 2024	The bargaining process continued. Both sides exchanged proposals they felt would improve the Collective Agreement.
July 29-30, 2024	Further negotiations continued to try and amend the Collective Agreement to satisfy both sides.
September 9-17, 2024	Negotiations continued to try and amend the Collective Agreement to satisfy both sides.
September 18, 2024	OPSEU requests a Conciliation Officer and requests a strike mandate vote
September 23 - November 5, 2024	Negotiations continued to try and amend the Collective Agreement to satisfy both sides.
October 15-17, 2024	OPSEU members such as full-time and partial-load professors, instructors, librarians, and counsellors voted 79% in favour of labour action.
December 6, 2024 - January 7, 2025	The bargaining teams for the CEC and OPSEU will meet for non-binding mediation with experienced mediator, William Kaplan.

 

What could happen next?

• The actions that could occur and impact the Fall 2024 semester include:
• CEC and OPSEU can continue to bargain for an agreement after the September 30 Collective Agreement expiration – this is the ideal option for all parties!
• CEC and OPSEU could jointly agree to receive negotiation assistance from a private mediator.
• CEC and OPSEU could agree to send unresolved issues to binding arbitration on mutually agreeable terms. 
• The union (OPSEU) can strike (if they hold a strike vote and more than 50% of the votes are in favour of a strike). A strike could include:
• Work-to-rule (CAAT-A members only do what the collective agreement requires and nothing more)
• Rotating strikes (a series of strikes, each lasting up to a day)
• Strategic strikes (a work stoppage of a limited number of members within the CAAT-A members)
• General strike (full work stoppage)
• The CEC could lock-out CAAT-A members, preventing them from continuing to work (the CEC stated in 2021 they would not do this, and we expect this to be the same this year).
• The CEC can change the terms of employment outlined in the collective agreement for CAAT-A members.
• The CEC can request a “last offer vote” (an offer of settlement that CAAT-A members vote on without their union’s endorsement).

For more information, please visit the following Frequently Asked Questions document, OPSEU website, and CEC website.