Close to 100 CAAT Support delegates, observers, alternates and guests met this past weekend in Toronto and elected the team that will guide the division through next year's round of bargaining.

"There was a very good level of enthusiasm right through the weekend and that speaks well as we prepare for demand setting and, later next year, bargaining our new collective agreement," said Florry Foster, chair of the divisional executive. Foster was also elected as chair of the bargaining team.

OPSEU president Smokey Thomas opened the weekend conference with a keynote address that stressed the need for members to demonstrate solidarity throughout what he said promised to be a tough round of contract negotiations.

He told the delegates that while the Wynne government has remained faithful to her predecessor's austerity agenda, that penny-pinching hasn't extended to senior management at Ontario's 24 community colleges whose presidents, for the most part, earn in excess of $300,000 annually.

"It's our members who are told to tighten their belts," said Thomas. "You don't hear those instructions levelled against the college presidents."

JP Hornick, chair of CAAT Academic, delivered greetings from her members and reminded support workers that both groups would be negotiating their new collective agreements simultaneously in 2014. "Both our groups need to stick together like never before," she said. "This will be a new (bargaining) experience for support and academics."

Besides electing bargaining team members, delegates also elected a team of mobilizers and members to the employer-employee relations committee (EERC), as well as alternates.

Several presentations were also delivered. OPSEU staff delivered an update on future plan for organizing part-time college employees. Other reports to the delegates included those from the divisional executive, EERC, and the grievance scheduling, joint insurance, CAAT pension and joint classification committees.