Management Team Bargaining Update August 5 2021
The two bargaining teams (management and OPSEU CAAT-A) met through Zoom between August 3-5, 2021. On the first day, the teams were able to come to an understanding regarding ground rules and quickly proceeded to the presentation of proposals.
Ground Rules
On Wednesday, July 7, OPSEU CAAT-A, proposed the idea of establishing ground rules as a way to navigate this new form of bargaining virtually. We are happy to announce that as of August 3, the management bargaining team and the CAAT-A bargaining team are in agreement on the majority of outstanding ground rules. These include that the parties mutually agree that they must bargain in good faith and make every effort to reach an agreement. Significantly, the Union stated that it would not pursue its initial request to have observers attend bargaining.
Tabled Proposals
Over the course of three days, the CAAT-A team presented proposals that impact a significant number of clauses and would fundamentally change the current collective agreement. Each proposal was presented thematically and included the union’s rationale for the proposed changes.
The proposal themes seen below are also available on the CEC current negotiations page in their entirety.
Equity
Workload
Partial-Load
Class Definitions
Academic Freedom, Intellectual Property and Academic Councils
Staffing
Joint Committee Work
Outside Work
Coordinators & LOUs
At the conclusion of each presentation, the management team caucused to discuss and begin analysis of the proposals as presented by theme. The team was surprised by some of the data cited in the Union’s rationale and looks forward to better understanding it. The management team has requested copies of the union’s research and data to review alongside each proposal to facilitate informed dialogue on the matters raised.
As many of the proposals consider the same articles using different themed lenses, the management team is now diligently reviewing each article holistically in preparation for discussions next week.
The Union has indicated that its monetary demands will be presented in future discussions.
In Conclusion
We want to thank the OPSEU CAAT-A team for their very detailed proposals. It is clear, they have invested a great deal of thought and time packaging demands for the management team’s consideration. Many of the Union's proposals represent fundamental changes to the current collective agreement. We have started a comprehensive review of these proposals and will raise initial questions and provide feedback when bargaining resumes next week.
We look forward to beginning discussions around each article in an effort to find common ground in a way that truly puts students’ education first while strengthening the College sector as a whole. We will take the necessary time to understand the union’s perspectives and proposals so that we can work together on issues that can effectively be addressed during this round of bargaining.
