The College Employer Council proposed a form of voluntary arbitration Thursday evening that could bring an end to uncertainty around the collective agreement negotiation process should the CAAT-A faculty bargaining team accept it.
The “Voluntary Binding Final Offer Selection Interest Arbitration” approach would see the two sides present their most recent bargaining proposals to an arbitrator who would offer an agreed settlement, if possible.
If the arbitrator is unable to find a compromise between the two sides, they would select one either one of the CEC or CAAT-A proposals in its entirety and that would be the new collective agreement.
The most recent proposal from CAAT-A was on Nov. 18 and the latest offer from the CEC was on Nov. 23.
The union offered voluntary arbitration of a different sort earlier in the negotiation process but the council did not take them up on the offer.
CAAT-A bargainers represent some 14,000 full time professors, librarians and instructors across the province under the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, or OPSEU.
MORE TO COME.