Bargaining 2021 – OPSEU Local 125

Recent News:

August 16, 2023 – On Monday, the bargaining teams for Ontario College Faculty and the College Employer Council reached a mediated settlement on compensation from 2021-24, following the overturning of Bill 124 in the courts. The settlement provided salary increases of 3%, 3%, and 3.5% annually, including the 1% increases that had originally been awarded under the Bill. It also provided a significant increase to paramedical benefits. Please see the latest College Faculty Bulletin for more details.

July 11, 2023 – Like many Collective Agreements that were bargained since Bill 124 was first tabled in 2019, our latest contract contains provisions for reopening wage and benefit negotiations in the event that Bill 124 was overturned. Like many other unions, in the wake of the court’s decision on Bill 124, we will be returning to the table to negotiate wage increases with the employer.
The Kaplan award, which culminated our latest round of bargaining, provided a process of mediation, where the two parties can negotiate a wage remedy, should Bill 124 be found unconstitutional. We will be commencing this process on August 14, when we will meet with the CEC bargaining team with the assistance of Eli Gedalof, who will be serving as a mediator.
Please see the latest College Faculty Bulletin for more details.

September 23, 2022 – Arbitrator William Kaplan has today released his award that determines our new Collective Agreement, which will be in force until September 30, 2024. This award includes significant gains in areas including equity, indigenization and partial-load job security, and acknowledges workload associated with multi-modal courses.
OPSEU and CEC Award 2022
College Faculty Bulletin – September 2022

September 7 – 9, 2022 – OPSEU/SEFPO CAAT Academic and the CEC participated in a mediation/arbitration September 7-9, 2022. Following the mediation part of the proceeding, an arbitration occurred on September 9, 2022. The arbitrator’s award will form the new collective agreement and it is anticipated that it will be received shortly. The arbitrator has imposed a continued media blackout until the award is released.

Bargaining Timeline:

Flowchart of Bargaining under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (Ontario)

College Faculty Bulletins:

December 2020
March 2021
April 2021
August 10, 2021
August 26, 2021
September 2022
April 2023
July 2023
August 2023

Bargaining Team 2020-2021:

Contact the Bargaining Team at bargainingteam2021@gmail.com

JP Hornick, Local 556 (George Brown) – chair
Jonathan Singer, Local 560 (Seneca) – vice-chair
Ravi Ramkissoonsingh, Local 242 (Niagara)
Rebecca Ward, Local 732 (Confederation)
Kathleen Flynn, Local 354 (Durham)
Shawn Pentecost, Local 415 (Algonquin)
Michelle Arbour, Local 125 (Lambton)

Alternates:
Karen Weisbaum, Local 417 (St. Lawrence)
Frank Yee, Local 560 (Seneca)

Read more about the Pre-Bargaining Conference and election of the bargaining team members HERE.

Lambton College Local Bargaining Advisory Committee member:
Anthony Iafrate

Bargaining 2017:

During a five-week strike, we stood strong together and rejected a toxic forced offer from the College Employer Council. Soon after, we were legislated back to work by a government that refused to intervene in the right way by directing the College Employer Council to bargain fairly. Our new collective agreement was settled through interest arbitration. Arbitrator Kaplan’s award—while not fully addressing our concerns—clearly reflected faculty’s vision for a better college system. We won historic breakthroughs on academic freedom for all faculty, as well as significant gains for partial-load faculty. We blocked management attempts to extend the moratorium on staffing grievances, and created a Provincial Task Force to define the system for the next 50 years. We also launched a Charter challenge against the government for their violation of our right to bargain our collective agreement, which is still making its way through the system.

The Kaplan award included the following:

It is important to note what the Ontario government took away in the intervening years 2018-2020: