Now what? College talks at a stalemate
February 1, 2010
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Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
Community college teachers opposed to a province-wide strike spent the weekend emailing union and management alike demanding to vote on the latest offer.
Each side has said that it's up to the other to hold the vote.
The email campaign, organized by professors at a Kingston college who run a website against a walkout, wants teachers to be able to vote on an offer that would raise their pay 5.9 per cent over the next three years.
The Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU) rejected the offer Wednesday, saying it leaves too many workload issues unresolved, but says colleges are free to hold a vote for teachers if they wish.
But colleges say they want the union to run the vote "because it seems right for them to take it to their members and give them the democratic right to choose," said Nancy Hood, vice-chair of the colleges' academic bargaining team.
The stalemate has left teachers like Bill Tennant frustrated that neither side will take charge.
"Look, either side can call a vote. We'll take it from whoever will give it to us," said the business professor at Kingston's St. Lawrence College. He launched the website www.stopthestrike.net, which has sparked dozens of emails to both sides.
The union, representing 9,000 full-time teachers, counsellors and librarians, is angry the province's 24 community colleges exercised a new power in November to simply "introduce" new salary and working conditions when bargaining talks lagged, including a raise of 7.5 per cent over four years.
Until both sides reach an agreement, the imposed conditions apply and the first raise has begun to be paid out. (As of Sunday, the union was seeking 7.5 per cent over three years and colleges were offering 5.9 per cent over three.)
This new deal, plus memories of a three-week strike in 2006, are seen as having weakened teachers' appetite for labour action, with only 57 per cent voting Jan. 13 to give the union a strike mandate. Six campuses voted outright against a strike, Humber College in Toronto and Georgian College in Barrie among them.
"We care so much about our students and the reputation of our colleges, there is just no need for a strike," said college negotiator Nancy Hood in an interview Friday. She said she is waiting to hear from the union Monday on whether it will conduct a vote on the offer.
However, OPSEU sent a bulletin Friday to members saying it would be "highly unusual" for it to hold a vote on an offer that "does not reflect any changes in key areas," especially so soon after a strike vote.
Still, union bargaining chief Ted Montgomery noted in the bulletin that the union is seeking legal and other advice before making any "hasty or unconsidered decision."
A student Facebook group against the strike has garnered more than 27,500 members.
Toronto Star