March 2025 Newsletter
Welcome
Since the last edition of the CEC newsletter, several Ontario colleges were recognized as top employers, regionally and nationally. Sixteen Ontario colleges and polytechnics were recognized as leaders in national applied research. Additional benefits services have been introduced for Ontario colleges. As well, there are a few dates coming up in Ontario college bargaining that you should have on your radar.
What's Going On?
| Ontario colleges named Forbes’ 2025 top employers | Applied research thrives at Ontario Colleges |
| Five Ontario colleges were recently named to the Forbes’ Canada’s Top Employers list for 2025. Fanshawe College (74), Centennial College (149), George Brown College (164), Algonquin College (193) and Humber College (243) were all included among the top 300 employers in the country.More than 40,000 employees working for organizations, with at least 500 workers in Canada, were asked if they would recommend their employer to others and to rate it based on a range of criteria, including salary, work flexibility, training programs and opportunities to advance. Each employer was given a score, with the top 300 organizations being included on the list. | The most recent Research Infosource rankings included 16 Ontario colleges among the top 50 research colleges in Canada for 2024. Topping the national list was Niagara College, with Lambton College, Humber Polytechnic and Mohawk College all being listed in the top 10 in the country.In the annual listing, the ranked colleges reported a total of $354.6 million of sponsored research income in 2023, a gain of 6.1% over 2022, with research income increasing at 27 of the listed colleges. Check out the full list of Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges 2024. |
| Colleges named Best Employers in GTA, Ottawa | |
| Durham College, George Brown College, Humber Polytechnic and Seneca Polytechnic were all recognized among the best employers in the Greater Toronto Area for 2025. And, in the National Capital Region, Algonquin College and La Cité collégiale were recognized as top employers in that region. The stated reasons for the honours received included support of employee health and fitness initiatives, employee recognition programs, maternity and family supports, and flexible work options. |
Benefits Update
In January, OPSEU/SEFPO and CEC negotiated that, effective May 1, 2025, the premium share for optional vision, hearing and dental care would adjust to 75% employee paid/25% employer paid for OPSEU-represented partial-load (PL) employees. Any employee who had a PL contract from January 2 - April 30, 2025 is eligible to elect this coverage, including PL employees who previously declined vision, hearing and/or dental care.
An open enrolment period has been established from March 17 to April 17, 2025 for all eligible PL employees. An Open Enrolment Form was provided to all colleges to facilitate the collection of employee elections. Colleges are managing the election and enrolment process individually.
Deadline: Note that the open enrolment election must be completed and received by the college benefits administrator by end of the enrolment window on April 17, 2025.
Questions about this process at a college can be addressed to college benefits administrators.
Bargaining Update
Part-time Academic Staff
The part-time academic staff union certification process continues, with certification votes scheduled to be counted on April 11 and April 17. Having previously met the first threshold, with 35% eligible employees having signed OPSEU membership cards, the vote occurred in October 2017. Following the lengthy process involved, the upcoming vote count will determine whether part-time academic staff at Ontario colleges have authorized OPSEU to collectively bargain on their behalf. A majority of 50% + 1 votes are required to do so.
Part-time Support Staff
Conciliation between the CEC and part-time support staff will begin on May 1. Despite the parties meeting on multiple occasions since January 2024, they remain at an impasse. Throughout bargaining, there have been in-depth discussions of the current issues and financial reality facing the Ontario college sector, as well as open dialogue on proposals. On December 18, 2024, the part-time support bargaining team ended negotiations early without explanation or acceptance of mediation. On January 23, 2025, the CEC filed for conciliation with the part-time support staff bargaining team.
We remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached with the CAAT-PTSS bargaining team to provide stability for students, employees, and the greater college community.
Full-time Support Staff
The current collective agreement with Ontario colleges’ full-time support staff expires on August 31, 2025. CEC has proposed a number of dates in advance of receiving a notice to bargain from the CAAT-FTSS bargaining team, with a goal to reach an agreement prior to the expiration of the current collective agreement.
Full-time and Partial-Load Academic Employees
The binding arbitration hearing for the CEC and the full-time and partial-load academic staff is scheduled for June 14-17, 2025. OPSEU agreed to CEC's proposal of binding arbitration on January 8 to avert a strike, following the union’s request for a no board report from the Ministry of Labour on December 12, 2024.
Arbitrator William Kaplan will further mediate and then arbitrate on proposals that remain unresolved. His report is expected to be issued shortly after the conclusion of the hearing.
