To all members, CAAT-Academic Division
February 3, 2010
Setting a strike deadline has resulted in the Colleges
asking for a vote on their offer. This was something that the Union had
been seeking since November 12th.
The Colleges had been claiming falsely that the Union was
“preventing” or “not allowing” the membership to vote on the offer. This
was completely untrue. The Union told the Colleges it was their
responsibility to seek an offer vote under the revised Colleges Collective
Bargaining Act. The Colleges have finally accepted that responsibility.
The faculty bargaining team is in the process of working
with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to make the vote possible and to
ensure that all the rules and regulations are followed. The Union is
prepared to postpone the strike date to allow for further bargaining
following a rejection vote.
The bargaining team and the Union will be strongly
encouraging members to reject the offer. It is far short of what is
available and contains serious losses from our existing contract. We have
had rejection votes in the past and they always have produced better offers.
The Union has also proposed that in the event that the
parties are unable to settle all matters at the table, that outstanding
issues be sent to arbitration. That would require the agreement of both
sides. The Colleges have said they would use “every available avenue to
avoid a strike.” Arbitration is one such avenue, and at this time is the
better alternative to avert a strike.
CAAT (A)
