For months, CAAT-A faculty have been bargaining for modest, realistic, but much-needed improvements to the College system. The CEC and the Colleges have refused to address these issues, resulting in our successful strike vote in December.
As we predicted, the CEC has called for a forced offer vote (likely to be scheduled sometime in February). The CEC’s offer is virtually identical to the one faculty already rejected in December.
The CEC has bypassed the bargaining team and our negotiator and called for a forced offer vote—on an offer that again refuses to address faculty issues.
Nothing has changed from their last offer on November 23.
As a reminder, here’s what’s wrong with their offer:
- it allows for contracting out of all faculty work and contains no protections for partial-load faculty, counsellors, librarians, or coordinators
- it contains no changes to workload factors, which have remained unchanged since the ’80s
- it does not acknowledge the need for faculty consent prior to the reuse or sale of their course materials
- their proposed workload taskforce looks to expand two-tiering of faculty workload (including apprenticeship, aviation, academic upgrading, placements, and “other specialized programs”)
- their proposed equity taskforce and roundtable on Truth and Reconciliation are all for show and do not guarantee any changes at all in the next three years and beyond
- it contains no commitment to improved ability to bridge benefits for PL members, a group already without the same benefits as FT.
Faculty have already told the CEC that this offer isn’t good enough for us and our students. Apparently, we need to reinforce this message loudly and clearly. They can take a forced offer vote only once, and this is a further attempt by the CEC to force their position on faculty.
If, following the rejection of their forced offer, the CEC continues to refuse to bargain faculty demands, the faculty team will leave open the door to voluntary binding interest arbitration. The CEC could have chosen this path at any point to avoid further pressure on faculty and students.
Rejecting their offer takes away their last tool, and ensures that any final agreement will be better than this.
Vote to REJECT the employer’s offer. We are bargaining for better: time for our students, quality education for all.
In solidarity,
JP, Jonathan, Katie, Michelle, Ravi, Rebecca, Shawn