Management Bargaining Team Update September 21, 2021

Bargaining Delayed – Management awaits Union response

Management Bargaining Team Update September 21, 2021

In our ongoing effort to keep the College community, students and employees informed as we continue to strive for labour stability, we are providing you with an update as to why current negotiations are on hold.

Last week the CEC management team proposed both parties set aside their long lists of demands in favour of a few modest changes. These include an immediate increase in compensation and benefits to the maximum allowed under Bill 124 for faculty, librarians and counsellors.

Contrary to what has been published by the CAAT-A bargaining team, the management settlement proposal does not include any concessions for academic employees. In the interest of ongoing transparency, we have made the settlement proposal and rationale available for review at www.collegeemployercouncil.ca/.

The CAAT-A team has not agreed to the reduced settlement proposal. Based on their publications to date, they have been unwilling to set aside/negotiate on any of their demands. Despite repeated requests for more information to engage them in informed dialogue, they have chosen not to answer our questions. Instead, they have proposed mediation.

On Monday September 20,2021 we wrote to OPSEU’s president, and the CAAT-A bargaining team chair for clarity on the mediation proposal. You can read the letter here. We asked if the CAAT-A team is proposing mediation with all the contentious issues set aside to advance bargaining; otherwise, mediation cannot be of any assistance. As we’ve repeatedly told the CAAT-A team, their current long list of demands includes language the Colleges could never agree to.

As we await response on how OPSEU sees mediation taking us forward, bargaining is on hold.