Academic Negotiations Begin

Last week, the College Employer Council (CEC) and OPSEU SEFPO CAAT-A Academic Bargaining teams began negotiations on a renewal of the full-time academic collective agreement. This agreement applies to full-time and partial-load teachers, counsellors, and librarians. The CEC represents the 24 Public Ontario Colleges, and OPSEU SEFPO represents the employees throughout this centralized bargaining process.

The parties met on July 15 and 16 to engage in introductions and set ground rules. Additionally, the CEC received Union proposals on workload, partial-load employees, and coordinators.

Our goal is to work with the CAAT-A Academic Bargaining team to co-create solutions that will both support the needs of college employees and contribute to the long-term sustainability of Ontario’s publicly assisted colleges. It is our responsibility to ensure that we remain focused on our students and on the Ontario college context as it is laid out in our legislated mandate.

Our consideration of the issues tabled in bargaining will be guided by our commitment to:

• Operate in a fiscally responsible manner and ensure value for money with respect to the public and student investments that fund our operations;
• Enhance productivity while at the same time endorsing innovation and creativity; and
• Ensure that Colleges continue to respond effectively to the changing needs of Ontario’s economy.

Finally, our work will also be guided by independent sources of information including the Value for Money Audit: Public Colleges Oversight (2021), the report from the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Postsecondary Education Financial Sustainability (2023), the Report of the Kaplan mandated Workload Task Force and its related data sets (2024) when it becomes available. 

We look forward to the confidential Workload Task Force report data being fully analyzed and released, as it would be premature to draw conclusions about workload in advance.

The management team's opening statement is available on the CEC website, where you can learn more about our goals and values.

Premature Use of Confidential Taskforce Report

On Tuesday July 16, the CAAT-A Academic Bargaining team released a copy of its demands with rationale. In that rationale they summarize recommendations that come from the confidential workload taskforce report. The CEC has alerted OPSEU SEFPO and the Neutral Chair that this release breaches the agreement to maintain confidentiality about the draft report contents until such time as the outstanding data has been received and the parties agree to release the report.

The parties had agreed that the report and its contents would not be released to the public until it is complete and translated. The taskforce neutral chair, Michelle, Flaherty, has expressed her concerns with OPSEU SEFPO public communications.  Public reference to the content of the Taskforce Report is not, in her view, consistent with the parties’ agreement to keep the report confidential within the bargaining teams and their respective principals.

Public reference to the taskforce report's content is inconsistent with the parties agreement to keep the report confidential. Unfortunately, the Union bargaining team has refused to address these concerns and remove the public disclosure.

The CEC is currently exploring what recourse is available to address these concerns and urges the CAAT-A academic bargaining to rethink its decisions and tactics as we begin this round of bargaining.

Next Steps

The current collective agreement expires on September 30, 2024.

The parties are next scheduled to meet July 22-26, 29-30, September 9-10, 16-20, and 23-29, and October 1. The CEC expects to receive more proposals from the CAAT-A Academic Bargaining team and begin engaging in discussions on these important topics.

The CEC will provide bargaining updates on an as needed basis throughout the bargaining process. These updates, tabled proposals, and documents will always be available on the CEC website (www.CollegeEmployerCouncil.ca).