Faculty at Ontario’s 24 colleges
have ratified a new collective agreement. The vote held on
Monday, September 10, delivered 88.8 percent approval.
The
agreement includes improvements to job security for
vulnerable partial-load workers and makes progress in
clarifying the role of coordinators, who may not supervise
other bargaining unit members.
"I commend
the College Faculty bargaining team and all of our faculty
members on the achievement of this new agreement,” said
OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "They have
successfully defended our education system against some
truly terrible proposals by the College Employer Council,
which would have undermined Ontario's colleges for years to
come.”
"College
Faculty have refused to allow the employer to disrupt the
school year for hundreds of thousands of students," said
College Faculty Bargaining Team Co-chair, Carolyn Gaunt.
“This new contract is an indication of the depth of our
commitment to quality education in Ontario.”
The new
two-year agreement includes no wage gains. Settlement became
possible, however, when the College Employer Council
withdrew all of their demands from the table. This was
prompted when faculty scheduled a strike vote.
"The most
offensive management proposal was the introduction of
‘facilitators’ as a new teaching classification," said
Gaunt. "We have effectively put a stop to this terrible
idea. Management would have created a whole new way to hire
low-paid contract teaching staff. Education workers and
students deserve better."
The
previous collective agreement expired on August 31, 2012.
OPSEU
represents more than 10,000 faculty members at colleges
across Ontario. Faculty members include counsellors,
instructors, professors and librarians.
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