Calling back-to-work legislation that ended a five-week-old college strike "unconstitutional" the union representing faculty at Ontario's 24 public colleges is taking its fight to the courts.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) filed a charter challenge Tuesday of legislation introduced by the Liberal government last November that forced its roughly 12,000 members back to work. In its challenge, the union maintains the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, also known as Bill 178, violates workers rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
"We promised last November that we would challenge the government's back-to-work legislation, and we are keeping that promise. This act is unconstitutional," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas.
OPSEU is demanding that the collective agreement reached through arbitration in December be deemed to have expired and that both parties return to the bargaining table.
"The union's rights and freedoms have been denied," said Thomas. "OPSEU has the right to freely negotiate a collective agreement with the College Employer Council."
He went on to state that the "right to strike is essential to collective bargaining, and negotiating with the employer is central to the work of a union."
College instructors, counsellors, and librarians were awarded a 7.75% wage increase over four years as part of Arbitrator William Kaplan's decision. They also won the establishment of a seniority system for partial-load faculty who teach seven to 12 hours per week through the use of a registry, and new language on academic freedom.
Classes for more than half a million students were cancelled for five weeks after college faculty walked off the job on October 16, 2017. The main sticking point for faculty was academic freedom and a better split of full time and contract positions.
Faculty returned to work on November 21 after the Ontario legislature passed back-to-work legislation in a rare weekend sitting.
The arbitration settlement was made public on December 20 following three days of mediation talks between Kaplan and the two sides of the labour dispute. At that time, the union vowed to challenge it in the courts.