College teachers' union threatens strike if contract imposed
November 12, 2009
Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
Ontario's 200,000 community college students could face a strike in the new year if their teachers choose to protest the colleges imposing a new contract rather than hammering it out at the bargaining table.
The 24 community colleges, which negotiate collectively with their teachers, announced Thursday they will exercise a new right that lets them "introduce" a new contract if talks with the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU) break down. Talks broke down Thursday morning and within hours Colleges Ontario announced it will introduce a new contract Nov. 18 if bargaining does not resume.
The contract provides a raise of about 8 per cent over four years to the colleges' 9,000 full-time teachers, counsellors and librarians, without adding to their workload.
It is the first time colleges have used this tool since receiving it in a change to legislation in 2008.
"We're introducing this new contract but we would prefer a negotiated settlement and the union can come back to the table at any time," said Rachel Donovan, chair of the colleges' bargaining team, noting 29 days of face-to-face talks over five months have brought no success.
"We feel it's important for the faculty to know we are introducing salary increases, modest improvement to workloads and no concessions," Donovan said, calling the union's salary requests unaffordable. OPSEU says it is seeking about 10 per cent more over three years.
But the union calls it "union-busting" for colleges to simply introduce a new contract when talks fail, even though other employers have the same right.
"Other employers know enough not to use that right; it's brutal and will do damage to the college system for years to come," said Ted Montgomery, chair of OPSEU's bargaining team.
"We will probably hold a strike vote in the new year because we don't want to disrupt the end of this term."
Ontario's colleges were hit by a 17-day strike in March 2006, after which the province ordered a task force to review college workload issues, that recommended all parties strive for more collegiality, professional development and academic freedom.
thestar.com