VOTE COMING FOR MOHAWK, OTHER COLLEGE FACULTY

The collective bargaining impasse between the College Employer Council (CEC) and the union representing faculty and others at Ontario's 24 community colleges appears headed to the membership.

Ontario's labour relations board has officially been asked by the CEC to conduct a vote on the council's most recent offer from Dec. 13.

Members of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), representing some 13,500 fulltime faculty, counsellors and librarians, including about 1,000 at Mohawk College, have been working-torule since Dec. 18 after contract talks reached an impasse Nov. 18 following conciliation. Both sides also met with the help of a mediator in October, but were unable to get a new collective agreement.

The previous contract expired Sept. 30.

Union members have also voted 59 per cent in favour of strike action.

"We urge OPSEU to keep their promise to put students' needs first by not escalating the labour dispute," said Dr. Laurie Rancourt, chair of the CEC management bargaining team, in a Jan. 17 news release.

Heather Giardine-Tuck, president of OPSEU local 240 at Mohawk College, is calling on the membership to vote down the offer which she hopes will lead to a return to bargaining.

"We need to send a really strong no vote to this forced final offer and if we don't, collective bargaining will be gone," GiardineTuck said. "They are underestimating the solidarity of the faculty."

She noted the union opted for work to rule because it was the least disruptive action for the students.

In a Dec. 13 news release, the employer council announced it was moving ahead with several measures including a one per cent pay increase retroactive to Oct. 1 that is permitted under provincial government legislation which is being challenged in court by a coalition of unions.

The union had been seeking contract 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.