'Clear majority' of college faculty in Ontario vote to strike

Ontario's Community College faculty — including those from Sault College — have voted overwhelmingly to strike if a contract can't be worked out with the College Employer Council (CEC).

The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) released the results Friday. In a record turnout, 11,848 members (76.1%) voted, with 79% voting "yes" to authorize strike action, if necessary. 

"We’ve delivered a strike mandate authorized by a clear majority of all College Faculty," said the negotiating team in a news release.

"As the bargaining team for faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges, we’ll utilize this mandate to reinforce our key demands and fight back serious concessions tabled by the College Employer Council that would make our working conditions, and by extension the students’ learning conditions, undoubtedly worse."

The two sides remain apart on key issues – including wages, workload, and precarity – the process of conciliation has fostered increased discussion.

"However, it has not compelled the CEC to drop significant concessions which risk increased employment instability, real-time cuts to wages, encroaching on our vacation, and further destabilizing workload," says the release.

"We remain focused on a fair, negotiated settlement that does not sacrifice our hard-fought rights, and which achieves real gains to our wages and working conditions."

OPSEU says the colleges have an accumulated surplus of $1 billion over the last year alone, so have the resources to fulfill the core mandate of the Colleges: training Ontario’s future workforce through teaching, learning, and student support.

"There’s enough money to prioritize quality education, while responsibly navigating any uncertainty."

The union says the vote is a "crucial step in delivering a historic strike mandate."

"A strong strike mandate enables us to protect our rights should the CEC recklessly impose terms and conditions, including the concessions that they have already tabled. It also embodies the spirit of strength in numbers. We get the collective agreement we are willing to stand for – this strike mandate sends a powerful message that faculty stand behind our key demands and proposals that will improve wages and working conditions for every one of us."

The CEC response is "The OPSEU CAAT-A bargaining team still maintains more than 200 demands on the table with an effective annual increase in College costs of almost $1 Billion.

"CEC has proposed to enter into mediation-arbitration with the CAAT-A bargaining team. This mechanism would provide a path forward to settle differences without disrupting student learning. In the last bargaining round, the OPSEU CAAT-A bargaining team agreed that mediation-arbitration was the best way to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal without putting students in the middle."