TORONTO — Ontario college faculty members have reaffirmed their stand on the last contract offer from the province's 24 community colleges.
Of the faculty who voted, 62 per cent rejected the offer from the College Employer Council.
The forced offer vote – requested by the CEC – was completed last week and supervised by the Ministry of Labour.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says it hopes the result will trigger a return to the bargaining table.
JP Hornick, chair of the faculty bargaining team, said it's no surprise the offer was turned down.
"Faculty sent a clear message that this offer failed to address faculty concerns around time for students, fairness for all faculty, and education quality," Hornick said. "Let's get back to the bargaining table."
OPSEU represents full-time and part-time instructors, professors, librarians and counsellors.
The College Employer Council expressed disappointment with the outcome of the vote, but noted that because only 66 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, 41 per cent of the bargaining unit membership rejected its contract offer.
"There remain very few outstanding union demands, said Dr. Laurie Rancourt, bargaining team chair for the CEC.
But she added that "the CEC has repeatedly told the faculty bargaining team that they are unacceptable and management can never agree to them."
The union has asked the colleges to consider voluntary binding interest arbitration.
However, the CEO of the College Employer Council, Graham Lloyd, said "We are not prepared to have an arbitrator 'split the difference' on key issues that ...are unacceptable to begin with. In essence, there is nothing to split."
Academic staff are currently engaging in a work-to-rule campaign.
The CEC said colleges will continue to operate until an agreement is reached or OPSEU decides to escalate beyond work-to-rule.
The union and the council have both posted their positions online.
