Earlier this month, we reached
a tentative agreement after a 5-week long strike made possible by organizing that has reshaped our division and relationships across the province.Together, we exercised our collective power: engaging 10,000 support staff across the province to shut down campuses, building relationships and solidarity with students, labour and community allies, and putting pressure on our employer to come to the table with a better deal.Voting on the tentative agreement will begin on Friday, October 31, 2025 at noon and close on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 3:00pm. The vote will be held online via email link from the ORLB.We have been visiting colleges around the province to answer questions about the details of the tentative agreement. Make no mistake: our strike was critical to winning this contract, and kicked off a larger fight against privatization of our colleges that is only beginning to ramp up.Our strike dramatically changed the landscape of bargaining. Before we hit the picketlines in communities across the province, the following measures that we went on to achieve in our tentative agreement were not even considered by the College Employer council at the bargaining table:
- Stronger language on contracting out; creating pathways to return to college jobs and access to re-skilling opportunities.
- A dollar figure wage increase – which for our lowest-paid members amounts to a 3.7% increase for the first year, ensuring that at the lowest pay-band members can afford daily life.
- Stronger language to begin to define support staff work (ie. managers not doing our jobs)
- Enhanced language on technological changes; including involvement in the union with 90 days notice, and enhanced opportunities for re-skilling should tech changes affect jobs.
- Enhanced hourly rates for on call (including additional increases in 2027) which haven’t been increased since 2005 and 2008 respectively.
- Measures to improve flexibility of how individuals can take Family Day (in ½ day increments)
- Inclusion of chosen family in bereavement leave.
Let us be clear, prior to the strike, there were only two notable bargaining proposals that had been signed off in bargaining. Everything else was still on the table, including the employer’s concessions around:
- Introduction of split-shifts
- Changing bumping procedure
- A letter on the “sustainability” of support staff benefits, that could have opened doors to benefits being unilaterally changed and/or retracted.
What’s more, the gains we achieved were won in the face of our employer who was more interested in peddling misinformation in the media, labeling our proposals “poison pills”, and overestimating the costs of our proposals than actually bargaining.In the end, our team had to reckon with the fact that College Presidents would have preferred to drag on the strike at the expense of student success and employee wellbeing instead of giving another inch on job security this round.While we did not secure everything we wanted on restricting contracting out and protecting bargaining unit work from management, we did achieve critical language that will give us tools to continue this fight, which will continue into the life of this agreement and future rounds of bargaining.A breakdown of the
Tentative Agreement is as follows:
| What was the employer was offering before the strike | Tentative Agreement |
|---|
| Contracting out (Article 1) | Not willing to negotiate. | Increasing timeline (from 1 year to 2 years) for employees who take a leave of absence to work for a contracted company to return to the college.
Access to $20.00 tuition fee for approved college programs and courses through Article 15.7.1. |
| Bargaining unit integrity (re: managers not doing support staff work) (Letter of Understanding) | Not willing to negotiate. | New Letter of Understanding that affirms the work of the bargaining unit.This language will open the door for future grievances on managers doing support staff work. |
| Wages | 2.25 % in 20252% in 20262% in 2027 | a. Effective September 1, 2025 – $1.05 increase to base salaryb. Effective September 1, 2026 – 2% increase to base salaryc. Effective September 1, 2027 – 2% increase to base salaryNEW:A $ increase means that our lowest-paid bargaining unit members receive an important bump, bringing wages up and addressing the wage gap. |
| On call premiums | $1.75 per hour up to a maximum, and $3.00 per hour for employees voluntarily exceeding the monthly maximum. | $1.75 per hour up to a maximum, and $3.00 per hour for employees voluntarily exceeding the monthly maximum.New: This will increase to $2.00 per hour in 2027, and $4.00 increase for those voluntarily exceeding the monthly maximum. |
| Communication Outside Work | | No expectation of off-shift communications |
| Shift Premiums | | Shift premium amount increased from $0.75/hr to $1.25/hour for regular hours worked from 5pm to midnight, and $1.00/hour to $1.75/hour for hours from midnight to 6am. |
| Vision care | | Coverage up from $400 to $550 (every 2 years for adults, annually for under 18.) |
| Hearing aids | | Up from $3000 to $3500 every 3 years. |
| Domestic / sexual violence leave | The employer had previously refused this language, costing it by the logic of every member accessing this leave | 5 paid days annually, in accordance with the Employee Standards Act of Ontario. |
| Family Leave | Not willing to negotiate. | 5 days of family leave can be taken in ½ day increments |
| Protective equipment | | Reimbursement up from $150 to $175 (footwear), and up from $20 to $30 (eyewear.) |
| 14.6.1 Employment Stability Committee | | Consistent dates for the Employment Stability Committee for Spring, Fall and Winter semesters. |
| 15.2 Notice to Local Union | | Securing additional staffing and financial information that colleges are using to justify layoff procedures. |
| 15.6.1 Recall by Seniority | | Strengthened recall rights, increase from 12 months to 18 months, regardless of length of service at the college. |
| 15.11 Technological Change | | Stronger language on technological change, including 90 days notice for the introduction of new technology that may impact support staff jobs at the college, involvement of the Employment Stability Committee and re-training opportunitiesNew:Re-skilling opportunities and access to Employment Stability Funds. |
| Appendix D (Temporary) employees | | Waving probationary period for Appendix D employees that are successful candidates for a permanent position if employee has worked at least 910 hours.NEW:Access to harassment language. |
| Enhanced Severance | | 50% increase in severance pay for laid-off employees for the duration of the agreement |
| Benefit entitlements book (Appendix A) | Initially the employer was pushing for a letter that could undermine our benefits, and undercut the negotiations process. | Agreed to maintain a change-log.Last year, the employer unilaterally tried to modify workers’ sick time without consultation. Letter on “benefit sustainability” removed. |
| Bereavement Leave | Not willing to negotiate. | Inclusion of chosen family |
| Posting & Exemptions | | Reconsideration of applicants if vacancy reoccurs within 6 months; seniority accrual for temporary assignments to excluded positions extended to 18 months from 12. |
| Employee Orientation | | 15 minutes with new hires during orientation or first month, where there is no formal orientation. |
| Workplace Sexual Harassment | | Reinforces sexual harassment protections aligned with Ontario Human Rights Code and extends timelines for grieving |
| Vacation carry-over | Employer initially tabled a concession that went after vacation carry over. | Stronger language to affirm vacation carry-over of unscheduled time over and above 3 week maximum. |
| Letter of Understanding (LOU) | | Renewal of existing letters of understanding (Bill 124, LTD, layoffs/recall, job postings, etc) |
The fight continues.In solidarity,Your College Support Full-Time Bargaining Team:Christine Kelsey, Local 416 (Chair)Shelley Gartshore, Local 124 (Vice-Chair)Veronica Attard, Local 416Dan Brisson, Local 672Bob Holder, Local 243Dana Leaman, Local 241Xiaoyan Wang, Local 561
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