Ontario college faculty represented by OPSEU are poised to take labour action as early as next Thursday if negotiations with colleges fail to reach an agreement. Key issues include wages, job security and workloads.
OPSEU, the union representing Ontario ’s college faculties, says it could start some form of labour action starting next Thursday. Negotiations are underway to avoid a labour disruption this week at Ontario ’s 24 publicly funded colleges, which could see faculty implement work-to-rule or go on strike just days after students return to class from the holiday break. College faculty represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union have been without a collective agreement since Sept.
30, when the prior agreement expired. Previous negotiations have not been successful, and the parties are returning to the table for non-binding mediation on Monday and Tuesday. Late last week, OPSEU issued a five-day notice of labour action, which could begin as early as Thursday. “We are, I would say, very far apart,” Ravi Ramkissoonsingh, the chair of the union’s bargaining team, said in an interview Sunday, adding that the three issues of greatest concern are wages, job security and workloads. The institutions affected by the negotiations include Centennial College, George Brown College, Humber College, Mohawk College and Sheridan College, among others. The last time Ontario college faculty went on strike, for five weeks in the fall of 2017, the provincial government passed back-to-work legislation in order to resume classes. An agreement was reached through binding arbitration. A labour disruption this time could be “anything from work-to-rule to a full walkout,” Mr. Ramkissoonsingh said, adding that the union will determine its next course of action after the two days of talks. OPSEU represents roughly 15,000 full-time and “partial load” professors and instructors at the colleges, as well as counsellors and librarians. Partial load faculty often work on temporary contracts and are paid by the teaching-contact hour, M
College Faculty Union Strike Ontario Labour Dispute Negotiations
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