Colleges reject faculty offer to negotiate and refuse voluntary binding interest arbitration
Unfortunately, the Colleges and CEC team have rejected faculty’s offer to extend the existing Collective Agreement until at least January 3, and have opted to impose terms and conditions of their choosing on Monday, December 13. To be clear, the CEC has chosen labour disruption over further negotiations or voluntary binding interest arbitration, which are both still on the table from faculty. Either continued negotiations or interest arbitration would ensure labour stability while allowing both sides’ proposals to be considered by an arbitrator.
We anticipate that the CEC will attempt to spin this as faculty attempting to deny improvements to faculty, when the opposite is true: the faculty team has been pushing for and bargaining meaningful and ongoing improvements throughout this process. More will follow as we get the details.
It is important to note that the initial imposition of terms is not necessarily the last. The Colleges and CEC can change the terms they impose at will and college by college.
Faculty will be providing the required 5-day notice of labour action to the CEC as a result, and can begin work-to-rule, which will begin first with the union Locals, as of December 18. Details will follow shortly.
Here is the latest media coverage in regard to our bargaining: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2021/12/12/faculty-at-ontarios-24-public-colleges-vote-in-favour-of-job-action.html?fbclid=IwAR0KemcNm-she6EAeZ-jTzvxAl9CR40w_78UFr3EwhCEaIZe5zWWZZEM51I
In solidarity,
Your CAAT-A Bargaining Team