(File photo courtesy of  Alvimann via morgueFile)(File photo courtesy of Alvimann via morgueFile)
London

Ontario College Faculty Continue On Path Towards Strike

With only two days left to come to an agreement that will avoid a province-wide college faculty strike, labour negotiations have taken another turn for the worse.

The College Employer Council, the bargaining team that represents Ontario's 24 public colleges, has rejected the latest offer made by the college faculty union on Friday.

The move comes only days after OPSEU rejected the bargaining team's final offer on Tuesday, and issued a strike deadline for Monday, October 16 at 12:01am. A strike would impact students at province's public colleges, including St. Clair College, Lambton College and Fanshawe College.

Officials with the colleges' bargaining team said they are disappointed by the proposals tabled by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), as they would ultimately cost an additional $400-million annually. The colleges currently spend $750-million annually on full-time faculty salaries.

The union proposed a 9.0% wage increase over three years that would put the new full-time faculty maximum salary over $116,000.  The colleges also do not agree with the union's positions on senates, staffing ratios, and academic control.

"The union is only tinkering with its proposals and not making the substantive changes needed to get a deal," said Sonia Del Missier, chair of the colleges' bargaining team in a news release. "The colleges' final offer is now the only path to a settlement that would avoid a strike... Our final offer is comparable to, or better than, recent public-sector settlements with teachers, college support staff, hospital professionals, and Ontario public servants."

The bargaining team said the colleges remain committed to reach negotiated settlement before Monday's strike deadline.

"We are asking the union to work over the weekend with the colleges to finalize a settlement based on our final offer," said Del Missie.

The union has said key bargaining issues relate to education quality and the ongoing “exploitation of contract faculty.”

OPSEU represents more than 12,000 professors, instructors, counsellors, and librarians at the province’s colleges. Their collective agreement expired on September 30.

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