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Sep 11, 2012- 12:17 PM
Nearly 89 per cent of the college faculty members, who belong to the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU), voted in favour of the deal with the College Employer Council, which bargained on behalf of the colleges.
"I commend the college faculty bargaining team and all of our faculty members on the achievement of this new agreement," OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said in the press release.
"They have successfully defended our education system against some truly terrible proposals by the College Employer Council, which would have undermined Ontario's colleges for years to come."
"College faculty have refused to allow the employer to disrupt the school year for hundreds of thousands of students," Carolyn Gaunt, bargaining team co-chair and co-ordinator of Cambrian College's human resources management program, said.
"This new contract is an indication of the depth of our commitment to quality education in Ontario."
The new two-year agreement includes improvements to job security for vulnerable partial-load workers and makes progress in clarifying the role of co-ordinators, who may not supervise other bargaining unit members.
The deal, however, does not include any wage gains.
Settlement became possible when the College Employer Council withdrew all of its demands from the table, the press release said.
"The most offensive management proposal was the introduction of 'facilitators' as a new teaching classification," Gaunt said.
"We have effectively put a stop to this terrible idea. Management would have created a whole new way to hire low-paid contract teaching staff. Education workers and students deserve better."
The previous collective agreement expired Aug. 31.
Sonia Del Missier, vice-president academic at Cambrian College and chair of the colleges' bargaining team, said the results are “great news” for students, parents, faculty and the colleges.
“Everyone can now focus on getting the academic year off to a great start," she said.
