The Canadian Association of University Teachers announced its full support Tuesday of Ontario’s college faculty as they strive to reach a new collective agreement with the College Employer Council.
“The demands that the union has focused on are fair and reasonable and are necessary for preserving the quality and integrity of post-secondary education in Ontario,” CAUT executive director David Robinson said in a statement.
Talks between the Ontario Public Sector Employees’ Union’s college faculty division CAAT-A and Ontario’s 24 colleges broke down Monday after mediation failed last week.
CAAT-A bargainers seek to improve workload strains on full time and partial-load faculty, equity, Indigenization and for professors to retain intellectual property rights.
“It is entirely reasonable to request that all work that faculty do be fairly and properly compensated,” Robinson said.
“It is also more than reasonable to insist that Indigenous faculty and faculty from equity-seeking groups receive recognition and fair working conditions.”
Robinson said CAAT-A’s demand that faculty have intellectual property rights over their work is a “necessary condition for quality education.”
“It protects academic freedom by giving faculty control over the development and use of their ideas,” he said.
CAUT is the national association for college and university workers across Canada, representing over 72,000 academic and general staff.