Full-time faculty looking at strike vote
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, in consultation with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, will be meeting with the Ministry of Labour to discuss setting a date for a strike vote this week.
Negotiations between Colleges Ontario and OPSEU ceased last week, which led to management's introduction of a new contract for full-time college faculty members.
The new contract will give faculty a salary increase of about eight per cent over four years. This means that salaries will be increased by 1.75 per cent in the first year, then 1.75 per cent, two per cent, and two per cent again in the fourth year. Additionally, this salary increase is retroactive to September 1 of this year, so the faculty will be paid for all their hours in those months until now with the new salary.
It also gives faculty new workload terms including more flexibility and ensuring “faculty can participate in evaluation methods,” such as determining the best way to evaluate students whether through multiple choice tests or projects, said Sally Ritchie, senior communications officer at Colleges Ontario. Management believes these terms address OPSEU's concerns.
“We've increased the participation of faculty in the delivery of programs to our students, (which) increases collegiality and that goes a long way in increasing academic freedom,” she said.
A legislative right allows management to unilaterally apply this contract. The right was created as part of the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act after the last strike ended — and both sides agreed to it, said Ritchie.
However, OPSEU has come back saying they did not agree to this legislative right and they're not happy about the new contract. The salary increase is not what they asked for — which was 13 per cent over three years — and they don't believe that management's new workload terms will do much to improve the current situation.
“The management modification to workload is not about collegiality. It is simply about getting around the current workload rules in the collective agreement,” said Janet Wright, a member of the OPSEU's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology — Academic bargaining team.
“When it comes to the evaluations methods modification, management proposes that the supervisor will meet to talk with a group of teachers, but that is as far as it goes,” she explained. “The supervisor still gets the last say.”
OPSEU support the idea of collegiality being an equal share of power and authority and do not see Colleges Ontario's new contract as working in cooperation with that interpretation.
Both sides have been talking since earlier this year, yet no consensus could be reached.
However, there were some positives that came out of negotiations that both sides seemed to agree on. Among the improvements is the increased maximum salary from 70 per cent to 80 per cent for faculty while they're on sabbatical, and the faculty is being granted another statutory holiday — although OPSEU declined to comment on the specifics of the holiday.
Despite the improvements, both sides could not continue talks and a possible strike looms for the future. But management concedes that action is not necessary and OPSEU needs to examine these conditions given the current economy climate before trying any other options.
“We urge faculty to take a careful look at the terms…they are very beneficial,” said Ritchie. “We don't see the point of putting faculty through the waiting game when we could offer them what we could afford.
“We need to move forward.”
Negotiations between Colleges Ontario and OPSEU ceased last week, which led to management's introduction of a new contract for full-time college faculty members.
The new contract will give faculty a salary increase of about eight per cent over four years. This means that salaries will be increased by 1.75 per cent in the first year, then 1.75 per cent, two per cent, and two per cent again in the fourth year. Additionally, this salary increase is retroactive to September 1 of this year, so the faculty will be paid for all their hours in those months until now with the new salary.
It also gives faculty new workload terms including more flexibility and ensuring “faculty can participate in evaluation methods,” such as determining the best way to evaluate students whether through multiple choice tests or projects, said Sally Ritchie, senior communications officer at Colleges Ontario. Management believes these terms address OPSEU's concerns.
“We've increased the participation of faculty in the delivery of programs to our students, (which) increases collegiality and that goes a long way in increasing academic freedom,” she said.
A legislative right allows management to unilaterally apply this contract. The right was created as part of the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act after the last strike ended — and both sides agreed to it, said Ritchie.
However, OPSEU has come back saying they did not agree to this legislative right and they're not happy about the new contract. The salary increase is not what they asked for — which was 13 per cent over three years — and they don't believe that management's new workload terms will do much to improve the current situation.
“The management modification to workload is not about collegiality. It is simply about getting around the current workload rules in the collective agreement,” said Janet Wright, a member of the OPSEU's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology — Academic bargaining team.
“When it comes to the evaluations methods modification, management proposes that the supervisor will meet to talk with a group of teachers, but that is as far as it goes,” she explained. “The supervisor still gets the last say.”
OPSEU support the idea of collegiality being an equal share of power and authority and do not see Colleges Ontario's new contract as working in cooperation with that interpretation.
Both sides have been talking since earlier this year, yet no consensus could be reached.
However, there were some positives that came out of negotiations that both sides seemed to agree on. Among the improvements is the increased maximum salary from 70 per cent to 80 per cent for faculty while they're on sabbatical, and the faculty is being granted another statutory holiday — although OPSEU declined to comment on the specifics of the holiday.
Despite the improvements, both sides could not continue talks and a possible strike looms for the future. But management concedes that action is not necessary and OPSEU needs to examine these conditions given the current economy climate before trying any other options.
“We urge faculty to take a careful look at the terms…they are very beneficial,” said Ritchie. “We don't see the point of putting faculty through the waiting game when we could offer them what we could afford.
“We need to move forward.”
