On September 28, the College Employer Council rejected, with very little discussion, our most recent comprehensive offer of settlement. We encourage you to review this offer at collegefaculty.org.
The next day, on September 29, the conciliator/mediator suggested that both parties “stand down” to take a break from the bargaining process and to allow for a short cooling off period ahead of the legal strike or lockout position on October 15.
We have proposed additional dates to meet with Council next week. We hope that Council will not only agree to these dates, but come to the table willing and ready to engage in real negotiations.
As you know, this has been an extremely one-sided round of bargaining, without meaningful discussion or consideration by Council's team. In most normal rounds of negotiations, there is a great deal of back and forth. New collective agreement language is presented, discussed, debated and revised until both parties find workable solutions. In this round, management’s paternalistic approach has been simply to say “no” to every single faculty proposal, while continuing to assert that faculty concerns are baseless.
We believe this is unacceptable and that management must come back to the table with a willingness to find solutions. We are at a historic juncture in the college system and a fair deal can be achieved if we stand strong.
As a helpful guide, please find below a timeline of bargaining activities thus far. We will apprise you of new developments as the week unfolds.
In solidarity,
JP Hornick
Chair, College faculty bargaining team
Activity by the parties thus far
July 4, 2017
- Faculty team gives an overview of faculty proposals for settlement verbally and in writing
- College Employer Council (CEC) team states its bargaining goals
July 6, 2017
- Faculty team presents faculty top demands of collegial governance, academic freedom, and intellectual property rights
- Faculty team presents proposed changes to Article 32 in an effort to better represent members
- Faculty team presents proposed updates to the class definitions of Counsellor and Professor
- Faculty team consults with the 24 local presidents and the Bargaining Advisory Committee (BAC) on the CEC proposals
- Faculty team files for conciliation in an effort to move talks forward
July 6 and 7, 2017
- CEC tables proposal documents containing mostly housekeeping items
August 1, 2017
- Faculty team agrees to housekeeping items
- Faculty team presents faculty complement language to ensure a ratio of full-time and contract faculty (70% F/T, 30% NFT)
- Faculty team presents enhancements to Article 26 covering partial-load faculty including:
– job security
– properly recorded workload
- equity in pay and benefits - Faculty team presents enhancements for job security for all faculty covered by the collective agreement
- Between August 1, 2017 and August 23, 2017, the faculty team consults with the 24 local presidents, the BAC and advisors
- The 24 local presidents vote unanimously to reject the CEC offer
- During the same period the faculty prepares a comprehensive offer of settlement
- CEC tables an offer of settlement that would expire on August 24, 2017
August 22, 2017
- CEC tables four concession proposals that they would seek should the faculty team reject their offer of August 1, 2017
August 23, 2017
- Faculty team officially rejects management’s comprehensive offer of settlement dated August 1, 2017 as it does not address any faculty demands and contains major concessions
- Faculty team tables a comprehensive offer of settlement that includes improvements on 16 faculty demands
August 24, 2017
- CEC rejects the faculty comprehensive offer of settlement
- CEC re-tables offer of August 1, 2017, removing two words
September 14, 2017
- Faculty from across the province vote 68 per cent to support a strike if necessary
September 21, 2017
- Faculty team requests a “no-board” report in an effort to increase pressure on the CEC to engage in dialogue
September 27, 2017
- Faculty team officially rejects management’s comprehensive offer of settlement dated August 23, 2017
- Faculty team tables a revised comprehensive offer of settlement with significant modifications to key faculty demands and the removal of some demands in an effort to encourage dialogue at the table
September 28, 2017
- CEC rejects the revised faculty offer of September 2017
September 29, 2017
- Conciliator suggests the parties stand down
- Faculty team advises the conciliator that they are willing to meet the employer at any time to continue talks
- CEC advises faculty team that they need to consider their options
- No further negotiations dates set at this time
Dear faculty,
On September 28, the College Employer Council rejected, with very little discussion, our most recent comprehensive offer of settlement. We encourage you to review this offer at collegefaculty.org.
The next day, on September 29, the conciliator/mediator suggested that both parties “stand down” to take a break from the bargaining process and to allow for a short cooling off period ahead of the legal strike or lockout position on October 15.
We have proposed additional dates to meet with Council next week. We hope that Council will not only agree to these dates, but come to the table willing and ready to engage in real negotiations.
As you know, this has been an extremely one-sided round of bargaining, without meaningful discussion or consideration by Council's team. In most normal rounds of negotiations, there is a great deal of back and forth. New collective agreement language is presented, discussed, debated and revised until both parties find workable solutions. In this round, management’s paternalistic approach has been simply to say “no” to every single faculty proposal, while continuing to assert that faculty concerns are baseless.
We believe this is unacceptable and that management must come back to the table with a willingness to find solutions. We are at a historic juncture in the college system and a fair deal can be achieved if we stand strong.
As a helpful guide, please find below a timeline of bargaining activities thus far. We will apprise you of new developments as the week unfolds.
In solidarity,
JP Hornick
Chair, College faculty bargaining team
Activity by the parties thus far
July 4, 2017
- Faculty team gives an overview of faculty proposals for settlement verbally and in writing
- College Employer Council (CEC) team states its bargaining goals
July 6, 2017
- Faculty team presents faculty top demands of collegial governance, academic freedom, and intellectual property rights
- Faculty team presents proposed changes to Article 32 in an effort to better represent members
- Faculty team presents proposed updates to the class definitions of Counsellor and Professor
- Faculty team consults with the 24 local presidents and the Bargaining Advisory Committee (BAC) on the CEC proposals
- Faculty team files for conciliation in an effort to move talks forward
July 6 and 7, 2017
- CEC tables proposal documents containing mostly housekeeping items
August 1, 2017
- Faculty team agrees to housekeeping items
- Faculty team presents faculty complement language to ensure a ratio of full-time and contract faculty (70% F/T, 30% NFT)
- Faculty team presents enhancements to Article 26 covering partial-load faculty including:
– job security
– properly recorded workload
- equity in pay and benefits - Faculty team presents enhancements for job security for all faculty covered by the collective agreement
- Between August 1, 2017 and August 23, 2017, the faculty team consults with the 24 local presidents, the BAC and advisors
- The 24 local presidents vote unanimously to reject the CEC offer
- During the same period the faculty prepares a comprehensive offer of settlement
- CEC tables an offer of settlement that would expire on August 24, 2017
August 22, 2017
- CEC tables four concession proposals that they would seek should the faculty team reject their offer of August 1, 2017
August 23, 2017
- Faculty team officially rejects management’s comprehensive offer of settlement dated August 1, 2017 as it does not address any faculty demands and contains major concessions
- Faculty team tables a comprehensive offer of settlement that includes improvements on 16 faculty demands
August 24, 2017
- CEC rejects the faculty comprehensive offer of settlement
- CEC re-tables offer of August 1, 2017, removing two words
September 14, 2017
- Faculty from across the province vote 68 per cent to support a strike if necessary
September 21, 2017
- Faculty team requests a “no-board” report in an effort to increase pressure on the CEC to engage in dialogue
September 27, 2017
- Faculty team officially rejects management’s comprehensive offer of settlement dated August 23, 2017
- Faculty team tables a revised comprehensive offer of settlement with significant modifications to key faculty demands and the removal of some demands in an effort to encourage dialogue at the table
September 28, 2017
- CEC rejects the revised faculty offer of September 2017
September 29, 2017
- Conciliator suggests the parties stand down
- Faculty team advises the conciliator that they are willing to meet the employer at any time to continue talks
- CEC advises faculty team that they need to consider their options
- No further negotiations dates set at this time