Ontario college faculty finished voting on whether to accept a final collective agreement offer from management Thursday afternoon.
“It’s a terrible contract that fails faculty, fails students and threatens to harm the entire college system,” reads an Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) statement sent to members.
The results could have major implications for Ontario’s 24 public colleges and the faculty that work at them, with the possibility of a strike.
“The final offer vote is academic employees’ last opportunity to ensure there will be no escalation to the strike action,” College Employer Council (CEC) CEO Graham Lloyd told Humber News through a written response Wednesday.
Voting ended at 3 p.m. Thursday and results are expected to be released by the Ministry of Labour on Friday.
The online forced-offer vote was scheduled by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) at the request of the CEC.
Faculty have been bargaining for a new collective agreement with the colleges since last year, a process that can occur several times a decade.
Professors, counsellors and librarians who are OPSEU members are voting on the most recent offer put forward by administrators.
Issues include workload, staffing, and fairness for partial-load faculty.
Should faculty vote in favour of the offer, the bargaining process and the threat of further job action such as a strike would end.
If faculty follow their union bargaining team’s recommendation and vote against the latest college offer, a stalemate would continue and a strike would be one of the only labour action options remaining for faculty.
“If faculty vote no, the Colleges will continue to operate until an agreement is reached or OPSEU decides to escalate beyond work-to-rule,” said Lloyd.
Humber News reached out to CAAT-A faculty bargaining chair J.P. Hornick for comment and did not receive a response by deadline.
Faculty have maintained they want to avoid a strike since the bargaining process started last summer but have not ruled out hitting the picket lines over their collective agreement demands.
OPSEU Local 652 president Milos Vasic previously told Humber News that faculty will “not escalate to a full-on strike” should the faculty vote against the CEC’s final offer.
The two sides haven’t held talks since a form of mediated bargaining known as conciliation fell apart on Nov. 18 when the employer council left the table.
Humber College faculty joined their peers at all 24 public colleges in a work-to-rule labour action at the end of last semester.
Work-to-rule means professors strictly follow the exact terms of their employment contracts.
Faculty triggered the work-to-rule campaign after the CEC imposed “terms and conditions,” a legal tactic that allows the colleges to adjust faculty contracts.
College faculty last voted in favour of the CEC’s final offer in 2010.
In 2017, 86 per cent of faculty voted against the employer final offer, triggering a strike that lasted for a record-breaking five weeks.
Lloyd acknowledged student concerns over the possibility of a strike.
“We recognize that labour relations have added stress during an already challenging public health crisis,” Lloyd said.