Bargaining resumes for Ontario Community College faculty

The College Employer Council which represents management at Ontario's 24 community colleges, including Mohawk College, announced March 16 that contract talks with the union representing full-time faculty will resume online March 17.

A Ministry of Labour mediator will try to help the council and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) which represents about 16,000 college faculty, counsellors and librarians, hammer out a new deal

We are asking the Union bargaining team to acknowledge that while immediate workload change can't happen now, we are committed to making changes jointly through a comprehensive consultative process," the council states in a news release.

The release also acknowledges workload demands have evolved over the past 10 years."

OPSEU had set a 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 18 deadline for a provincewide strike if the council refused to return to bargaining or accept voluntary interest arbitration.

Heather Giardine-Tuck, president of OPSEU local 240 at Mohawk College, said the strike is still on pending the outcome of Thursday's talks."

Giardine-Tuck said the union is cautiously optimistic the parties will reach an understanding so our students' year will continue."

The Mohawk College union rally and food raiser for students who require food support slated for 11 a.m. Friday in front of the college on Fennell Avenue at the Governors Boulevard entrance will go ahead as planned.

Faculty collective bargaining has been at an impasse since Nov. 18 following conciliation.

In a Feb. 15-17 online ballot supervised by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, union members voted 62 per cent across the province to reject the council's offer from Dec. 13 and faculty have been working to rule since Dec. 18.

Both sides also met with the help of a mediator in October.

The previous contract expired Sept. 30.

Earlier, union members have voted 59 per cent in favour of strike action if necessary to back contract demands including language changes to address several issues including contracting out of full-time counselling and library jobs, giving faculty input into the academic decision-making process along with workload and preparation time that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ontario college faculty were legislated back to work following a five-week strike in 2017.