Talks between Ontario’s college faculty union and the College Employer Council is expected to continue on Monday, avoiding for now a strike that could impact some 500,000 students.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union’s academic bargaining team met with union leaders from each of the province’s 24 public colleges Friday to determine the next steps after mediated talks between OPSEU and the CEC, the bargaining agent for the colleges, fell apart on Thursday.
Local union presidents were unanimous in asking the OPSEU bargaining team to continue discussions.
“We have invited the CEC team to meet on Monday, to give both sides a chance to discuss the current state of negotiations after speaking with their principals,” OPSEU’s CAAT-A bargaining team said in a statement.
“We have also suggested that neither side escalate until after we are able to meet again,” it said.
Striking Ontario colleges' faculty during a rally at Queen's Park in 2017. Current talks to renew a contract are expected to resume Nov. 1 after mediation broke down. Photo credit: Eli Ridder
OPSEU and the CEC entered mediated talks on Sept. 28 but it fell apart as the union was unwilling to negotiate, according to mediator Brian Keller.
“Many of the CAAT-A team’s remaining demands are highly aspirational and completely unrealistic,” Keller said in a report announcing the end of mediation.
He said prior to his appointment there were more than 350 items placed on the table for discussion by the union, and 14 by the CEC. The union bargaining team reduced the number of items to 150 following discussions with the mediator.
“The CAAT-A team claims to recognize that but has showed no willingness to sufficiently moderate its demands to give me any hope that further mediation at this stage could result in a negotiated agreement,” he wrote.
The union bargaining team denied allegations put forward by Keller, telling its members in an internal statement seen by Humber News that it aimed to “negotiate greater changes” that it says are “possible and necessary.”
Despite the bargaining team accepting OPSEU’s suggestion to nominate Keller as the mediator for the talks, CAAT-A said it was concerned over Keller’s approach.
“In particular, we believe Mediator Keller’s conclusions about the proposals were arrived at on the basis of very little direct communication with the faculty bargaining team,” the union said in a prepared statement.
“Realistically, Mediator Keller’s position reflects that of the CEC and is a classic approach to collective bargaining: that the only changes possible in any round of negotiations are minor and few in number,” it said.
The colleges and faculty are seeking to renew their collective agreement last updated in 2017.
When talks broke down then, a record-setting five-week strike took place that only ended when the then-Liberal government under Premier Kathleen Wynne legislated faculty back to work.