February 24, 2010: Official Vote Count Confirms Offer Vote - The official vote count confirms that faculty have narrowly accepted the Colleges' offer with 51.45% voting in favour. As a result, the offer from the Colleges becomes the new collective agreement for the next three years. Press release from OPSEU
February 12, 2010: Results Still Uncertain - Update from the bargaining team: The vote is not yet complete as segregated and mail-in ballots have to be counted. The official count is scheduled for February 24th. The team is also raising concerns about irregularities with the voting process with the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
February 10, 2010 - College faculty vote results too close to determine - The results of the vote on management's offer are too close to to determine the final result and the Ontario Labour Relations Board will have to do an official count. The unofficial count has the offer accepted by a margin of 210 votes.
Over 300 mail-in and segregated ballots could change the result once they are received and counted. These results may not be known
for more than 10 days.
Ted Montgomery, chair of the OPSEU bargaining team for the faculty, says that the union will have to get a clear
determination of the final vote count before any decisions are made.
“Right now we do not have a clear and final majority either way,” Montgomery said. “Until we know for sure whether
our members have accepted or rejected the employer offer, we cannot move forward.”
If the offer is ultimately rejected, the union will then determine a new strike date and call
on the Colleges to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair collective agreement.
- OPSEU press release - College faculty vote results too close to determine
- Unofficial Vote Results by College
| All Colleges | Humber | |
|---|---|---|
| Accept employer's offer | 51.25% | 65% |
| Reject employer's offer | 48.75% | 35% |
| Turnout | 77% | 65% |
• Local Officers' Reasons for Voting NO - Here is why the Local officers are voting NO to the Offer.
• Management Final Offer - January 27, 2010
- This is the document we are being asked to vote on.
• Union Proposal for Settlement - Jan 20,2010
• Agreed Items - November 12, 2009
February 3, 2010: Vote Date: Wednesday, Feb. 10th. - The Ontario Labour Relations Board has ruled that the College Council's vote on their offer will be
held on February 10, 2010. As a result, the Union will be delaying the strike date to February 17 in order to allow
time for bargaining after a rejection vote. The Union's proposal for final and binding arbitration remains on the
table as a way of resolving issues should bargaining not bring about a settlement prior to the strike deadline.
February 2, 2010: Management to Hold Vote on Offer - College management has decided not to negotiate toward a settlement and rejects binding arbitration
to solve outstanding issues. They have asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to organize a vote on their offer.
The date of the final offer vote has not been determined yet.
The Union bargaining team is recommending that members vote NO to the final offer which does not address workload and
academic freedom issues. The team is supporting that the vote be next week and has offered to delay the strike date until
February 17th in order to allow time to negotiate after a rejection vote. The team is still proposing arbitration on any issues
that can not be resolved.
February 1, 2010: OPSEU Offers Solution to Avoid Strike - The bargaining team makes proposal to management to bring end to negotiations:
(1) Calls on management to bargain towards a negotiated settlement.
(2) Failing a negotiated settlement, proposes that management agree to send outstanding issues to binding arbitration.
(3) Established a strike deadline of February 11 which will be used if we are "forced to".
Management still has the right to have a vote on their final offer. See
OPSEU Press Release and
Text of News Conference
January 29, 2010: A Memo to Faculty re an Offer Vote from the faculty bargaining team - The decision to hold an offer vote rests with the Colleges given the changes to the to the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act. "[T]he Colleges are fully entitled to conduct an offer vote. It would be highly unusual for the Union to take another vote so soon after the last vote, particularly when the offer does not reflect any changes in the key areas – those identified by the Workload Task Force Report."
January 28, 2010: Management Ultimatum on "Final" Offer - The Council released their "final" offer and an ultimatum to the faculty bargaining team to take that offer to a vote. The offer has only changed marginally from the one rejected by the strike vote and no changes are made to implement the Workload Task Force recommendations. The faculty team’s objective is to continue bargaining. They have not walked away from the table.
January 22, 2010: Negotiation News #11 - A brief report on last week's bargaining. Talks resume Tuesday, January 26.
January 21, 2010: Talks Recessed till Tuesday, January 26th -The parties released the following statement regarding talks. "With the counsel of the mediator, the parties have agreed to recess negotiations to return to the table on Tuesday, January 26th."
January 19, 2010: Bargaining Resumes.
January 19, 2010: A new Bargaining Bulletin includes updated strike vote details and what it will take to reach a settlement. "The union is hopeful that the employer will work towards a reasonable and responsible settlement. However, faculty must prepare for a strike in the eventuality that an agreement can’t be reached."
Jan. 13, 2010: Strike Vote Results - College faculty give "... their bargaining team a strike mandate in a move that tells management it’s time to negotiate seriously." As a result of the vote the management bargaining team has already called and said they were interested in setting dates to resume bargaining. A schedule is expected by next week. See the OPSEU Press Release about the strike vote. Here are the strike vote details with the college by college breakdown. The percentage calculations do not include the segregated ballots which are not opened or counted at the unofficial count.
| All Colleges | Humber | |
|---|---|---|
| In favour of a strike | 57% | 43% |
| Not in favour of a strike | 43% | 57% |
| Turnout | 72% | 61% |
December 15, 2009: Management Walks Away from Bargaining - Despite the union team making additional revisions to its bargaining position in an attempt to
start real bargaining, management decided to break off negotiations. This leaves the union no choice but to mobilize for the
Jan. 13 strike vote. No further talks are scheduled.
The key issue in this round of bargaining is improving
the quality of education by implementing the recommendations of the workload task force established after the
last round of bargaining in 2006.
• OPSEU Press Release: Strike vote set as colleges show no interest in bargaining
• Union Proposal for Settlement - December 15, 2009
• Letter from Smokey Thomas to Faculty
- December 13, 2009
December 1, 2009: Bargaining Resumes / Strike Vote Date Set - Bargaining resumed on Monday, December 1. Management would not discuss workload issues and
focused their attention on salary. They would not agree to implement the recommendations of the Workload
Task Force and are holding fast to their imposed terms and conditions of employment. The Union is proposing a
3 year contract and removed several demands representing other financial costs for Management.
Late Monday night the teams agreed to continue bargaining
December 14 and 15.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board has scheduled January 13 for a strike vote. Strike
votes are common and more often than not result in an improved settlement without a
strike. The Union will continue to offer dates for negotiations and attempt to work
towards a fair settlement.
For the complete update from the team see: Bargaining Update December 1 2009
Nov. 25, 2009: Humber Faculty Union - Action Required from Members
- As you have heard the negotiating teams are meeting on Monday, November 30th.
It is as important as ever to keep up pressure on management to bargain. We have to let the Ontario government,
the Council of Colleges and our College president know how strongly we feel and how important it is that they bargain.
We want a fair negotiated agreement. Attached are
Nov. 23, 2009: Bargaining to Resume November 30th - Management has agreed to resume bargaining on November 30th.The union team is pleased that that management has agreed. "We will try to find a settlement on November 30, if the employer is truly interested in good faith bargaining."
Nov. 12, 2009: Bargaining Breaks Down - Management Imposes Work Terms and Conditions- OPSEU Press Release - After only 6 days of bargaining since the start of September management has broken off talks and unilaterally decided to impose the terms and conditions of their offer effective November 18th. OPSEU negotiators invited the Council take its contract offer to faculty for a vote, as allowed under the new Colleges Collective Bargaining Act (CCBA), but their negotiators refused. The union bargaining team has an open offer to meet and continue bargaining.
Oct. 30, 2009: Bargaining to Continue November 10-12 - The Faculty Negotiations Team has withdrawn 17 demands and made substantive amendments to other demands in an attempt to move talks along. Management withdrew none of their demands but made a minor adjustment in their wage offer: from 1.25%, 1.5%, 1.5% and 2% to 1.5%, 1.5%, 2% and 2%. The team is disappointed at the lack of headway but is "... neither discouraged nor surprised." Bargaining will continue on November 10, 11 and 12, 2009.
Oct. 30, 2009: Report on the October 21-23 bargaining - See Bargaining News #7
Sept 1, 2009: Talks Recessed Until October - See Negotiation News #5 - Sept 1, 2009 for details. Also see the Bargaining Update memo from the Bargaining Team.
August 25, 2009: Bargaining Update - The Faculty Negotiating Team recently informed local presidents that an on-time deal remains possible but there is a great amount of ground to be covered if that is to happen. Sometimes the parties go beyond the deadline to try to reach a deal. That may or may not happen this time.
The union has tabled the faculty demands and our salary position is based on our comparator groups - secondary school teachers and university professors. There have been discussions on several non-monetary items, including workload and the Task Force Report, and some limited progress.
Both parties jointly requested that the Ministry of Labour appoint a conciliator and he joined them on August 19. Having the conciliator is a normal part of the bargaining process and signals nothing. A communications blackout is possible when the conciliator is involved. One should read nothing into this, neither that settlement is imminent not that there is an impasse.
July 19, 2009: Bargaining Update - The Negotiating Team reports that they continue to meet with management and are discussing nonmonetary items so far, in particular the Workload Task Force Report. They report that the parties are communicating and making some progress. Neither side has tabled salary and benefit positions as yet. See Bargaining Update
June 12, 2009: Start of Talks - Memo from Bargaining Team Chair
June 3, 2009: Official Notice to Bargain Given - 90 day before the end of the current agreement.
Background Documents