Faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges are fighting to improve the college system and to protect the quality of a college education.
We know our students are the future, and that’s why college faculty are fighting for a better system for all. And you can help!
Better is possible. In just the last five years, Ontario’s college system has seen a surplus of $1.6 billion. That means our colleges have plenty of money for classrooms, libraries and in-house counsellors who support students – but, that’s not where the money is going. Instead, there are more managers than ever – and with higher salaries than ever – while conditions in our colleges are worsening.
College faculty are fighting for more time for students by demanding:
- More time to prepare online courses and to provide feedback to students. Currently, faculty only have a maximum of five minutes per week, per student for marking and no additional time to create quality online courses – that’s ridiculous!
- That colleges stop giving the work of professors, librarians, and counsellors to private corporations. It’s shameful that less than half of public colleges have full-time faculty librarians on site, and that two colleges have outsourced all their counselling services for students entirely.
- That unionized contract faculty have better job stability and access to benefits. Approximately 75% of faculty work on 14-week, precarious contracts with no guarantee of benefits between semesters, and little guarantee that they will be hired back to teach their courses. Faculty are pushing back against the growing gig economy to build a better future with decent jobs for students, because our students deserve better!
College faculty want simple and reasonable changes. We care deeply about our students and want a better future for them. We’re here to provide them the highest-quality education and training and prepare them for the jobs Ontario needs right now – in health care, social services, the skilled trades, and so much more.
You can help us to achieve better, by sending a letter to your college president to demand more #Time4Students: https://www.collegefaculty.org/write-your-college-president/
Other Bargaining Updates
College Faculty Negotiations Update – April 19, 2024
Bargaining Update Highlights In response to feedback from OPSEU/SEFPO College Faculty members, we are providing this summary of the contents of this bargaining update newsletter: Final Demand Set (FDS) complete, membership engagement and delegate renewal 18 demands...
More funding for colleges and universities must improve the student experience
It’s no secret that colleges and universities urgently need more funding. As the union representing 45,000 staff and faculty in all 24 of Ontario’s colleges and 16 universities and other postsecondary institutions, we have been sounding the alarm for years. Our...
Arbitrator awards improvements far beyond those offered by Employer in negotiations
Click here to download a PDF of the bulletin The Kaplan Award affects areas including: • Equity; • Indigenization; • Partial-load job security; and acknowledges workload associated with multi-modal courses. This is an historic moment in CAAT-A’s continued fight for...
Ontario College Faculty Achieve Historic Gains in new Collective Agreement
Toronto – Fifteen months after the commencement of a round of bargaining that included the largest work-to-rule faculty job action in the history of Canadian Colleges and Universities, labour negotiations between OPSEU/SEFPO’s college faculty division and the College...
College faculty arbitration update
OPSEU/SEFPO CAAT Academic and the CEC participated in a mediation/arbitration September 7-9, 2022. Following the mediation part of the proceeding, an arbitration occurred on September 9, 2022. The arbitrator’s award will form the new collective agreement and it is...
College faculty bargaining team statement
The college faculty bargaining team has issued the following statement: Arbitrator William Kaplan has imposed a media blackout on the upcoming voluntary mediation-interest arbitration between the colleges’ and college faculty bargaining teams. There will be no further...
Joint statement by OPSEU/SEFPO and the College Employer Council
OPSEU/SEFPO’s college faculty bargaining team and the College Employer Council have issued the following statement: The parties have reached an agreement to enter binding interest arbitration and the strike that was scheduled to commence at 12:01 am on March 18, 2022,...
College faculty to resume talks with employer
Toronto – With some 16,000 college faculty set to go on strike at 12:01 Friday morning, the College Employer Council (CEC) and the faculty bargaining team have agreed to meet Thursday. “We were encouraged that the CEC replied to our letter and have agreed to meet...
College faculty set strike deadline
TORONTO – Some 16,000 faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges say they will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, March 18 if the College Employer Council (CEC) does not agree to voluntary binding interest arbitration. The faculty bargaining team sent an open letter...
Work to Rule: Phase 3
Started 12:01am, March 02, 2022 Focus Work-to-rule must impact the functioning of the colleges in order to work as a bargaining strategy to bring the Council back to the table to discuss faculty’s needs. The colleges and CEC have chosen to abandon negotiations and to...
College faculty reject contract, call on employer to negotiate or arbitrate
TORONTO – Ontario college faculty have rejected a contract offer from their employer, and OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas hopes the result will trigger a return to the bargaining table. “I am convinced a negotiated settlement is there and within reach,”...
Legal Brief Supports Faculty Proposals
Throughout this round of bargaining, the College Employer Council (CEC) has repeatedly refused to negotiate significant issues regarding workload, staffing, or fairness for partial-load faculty. They have justified their obstinacy by claiming that changes to these...