Pay increase part of instructors’ deal
Arbitrator’s decision follows province’s longest faculty strike
An arbitrator appointed to work out a deal between Ontario’s 24 colleges and their faculty — who were ordered back to work last month after staging the longest strike in their history — has given them a 7.75-per-cent pay hike over four years and a $900 payout for return-to-work overtime.
The decision also added references to academic freedom in the deal, which the union hailed as a victory but the colleges said reflects what is already on the books at many institutions.
“The academic freedom article is a historic breakthrough,” said J.P. Hornick, chief negotiator for the colleges with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
She also said the union was able to “beat back all concessions” and felt the arbitrator’s deal “is actually a huge victory for us on almost every front.”
The colleges were equally pleased, saying the deal reflected what they had already offered the 12,000 faculty, including the salary increase.
“(We) are very pleased with the arbitrator’s award, which is consistent with the colleges’ bargaining positions,” said the College Employer Council, which bargains on behalf of the provinces’ publicly funded colleges.
“The award enshrines the academic freedom policies that exist at most colleg- es while providing the same percentage salary increase that the colleges tabled before the strike started.”
Some 12,000 faculty, who are members of OPSEU, went on strike in October and remained on the picket lines for five weeks.
Their main issues were precarious work — a task force will deal with the issue of growing part-time and contract work — and academic freedom.
Amid fears as many as 500,000 students were close to losing their semester, the government, in an unusual weekend sitting last month, passed back-to-work legislation.
Following the strike, colleges compressed course materials and extended classes. At Centennial College — where students missed four weeks because of a previously scheduled reading week — classes will run to Friday, and begin Jan. 2, making up three of those four lost weeks.
Students were also given the option of withdrawing from school by Dec. 5 without academic penalty, and about 10 per cent of full-timers — or almost 26,000 — have since dropped out. They received a full refund on their tuition fees.
In a typical year, college students must withdraw from their courses in the first two weeks of school to qualify for a refund. About 2.55 per cent usually do.
The union had sought academic freedom for instructors to determine teachings and course content “in consultation” with management; the arbitrator defined it as “the right to enquire about, investigate, pursue, teach and speak freely about academic issues without fear of impairment to position or other reprisal.”
Hornick said the wording “provides an avenue for challenging any imposed decisions.”
The arbitrator also said each fulltime faculty member will receive a $900 payout, with $450 for “partial load” instructors, and also put an end to the thousands of grievances already launched regarding back-towork issues.
“This payment is in full and final satisfaction of all claims, grievances or other complaints related to workload arising from return to work from the strike,” the decision states.
A full-time professor would have lost about $10,000 in salary during the strike.
Mediation-arbitration was held between the colleges and OPSEU from Dec. 14 to 16.
Sonia Del Missier, chair of the colleges’ bargaining team, called the decision “a workable award that is in the best interests of all parties . . . The strike has been a terrible experience for our students and everyone affected. We appreciate all the efforts being made by faculty and staff to recover from these events and continue the education and training of our students. We will be focused on rebuilding our positive working relationship with faculty that is in the best interests of the colleges, our students and our communities.”
The arbitrator’s decision also allows for existing full-time and partial-load faculty to get priority when full-time jobs become available. It also means faculty laid off at other colleges will be considered next.