College profs suing over temp work

The union representing Ontario college faculty is taking the Progressive Conservative government to court after it terminated a task force that was trying to fix the growing problem of part-time and contract work.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says the College Task Force was a key part of the arbitrator’s decision last year, ending a bitter dispute between faculty members and Ontario’s 24 colleges that culminated in a record-long, fiveweek strike.

OPSEU agreed in collective bargaining to refer key issues, such as job security, part-time work and contract work, to a task force, which was supported and funded by the then-Liberal government. That task force was underway when it was scrapped on June 29 by Premier Doug Ford during his first day in office.

“It’s an arbitrated collective agreement that the parties (OPSEU and the College Employer Council) are both living by,” says OPSEU president Warren “Smokey” Thomas. “The government has no right to change a collective agreement after it’s enforced.”

In an application filed Wednesday with the Superior Court of Justice, OPSEU argues, in part, that the government “substantially interfered” with its right to bargain collectively, which violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A spokesperson for Merrilee Fullerton, the minister of training, colleges and universities, said she could not comment because the matter is before the courts.