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November 2025 Newsletter

November 25, 2025
students in hallway beside title College Employer Council News and Updates

Welcome

This edition of the CEC newsletter highlights The Premier's Awards 2025, Ontario Colleges' new online applications portal, and welcomes Sheridan College's new president. As well, recent CEC webinars are revisited along with updates on labour relations with the four union bargaining groups. 

Follow the CEC on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay informed in between newsletters.

What's Going On?

Ontario honours top college graduates

OCAS launches new Ontario Colleges website and brand

Colleges Ontario, in partnership with the government of Ontario, honoured the recipients of the 2025 Premier’s Awards for college graduates and the Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards celebrate the accomplishments of college graduates and leaders whose work has strengthened Ontario’s post-secondary system, economy, industries and communities. The 2025 recipients were recognized at an event in Toronto on November 24.

The Premier’s Awards recognize outstanding college graduates in seven categories who have made significant contributions to their fields and communities. The Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award honours individuals who have made long-term, transformative contributions to Ontario’s college system.

Learn more about this year’s recipients. 

 

OCAS, the application service provider for Ontario’s colleges, launched its newly redesigned Ontario Colleges website on November 18. 

The site now offers prospective applicants a more intuitive and engaging digital experience designed to help them explore and apply to Ontario’s colleges.  The site, built with input and feedback from applicants and college system partners, includes an array of new updates. The launch of the new Ontario Colleges website coincides with a new name, logo, and refreshed brand identity. 

Visit the new site to learn more about the changes and explore the online experience for yourself. 

Webinar Recap: Renewed full-time support staff collective agreement

Sheridan College announces new president and vice-chancellor

CEC hosted webinars on November 5 and 7, 2025 for managers in the Ontario college system to explain the impact of the newly ratified Full-Time Support Staff Collective Agreement (2025-28). More than 850 people attended the sessions, which covered important information about:

  • wage and benefit increases;
  • changes to vacation carry-over;
  • enhanced severance and employment stability obligations; and
  • technological change.

A recording of the presentation, as well as other resources related to the 2025-2028 collective agreement, are available for registered HR members of the college sector on the CEC website, under the Support section of the Reference Documents & Manuals page.

Sheridan College’s board has appointed Dr. Cindy Gouveia as the new president and vice-chancellor of Sheridan College, effective January 8, 2026. Dr. Gouveia most recently served as vice-president of global strategic partnerships & advancement at George Brown College and president of its foundation.

CEC looks forward to working with Dr. Gouveia in this new role.

Benefits Update

Webinar Recap: FTSS post-strike benefits administration

CEC hosted a webinar for representatives from each Ontario college on October 22, 2025 to review post-strike benefits materials and address any questions related to benefits administration and premium reconciliation. CEC walked through:

  • A guide outlining actions colleges must undertake for employees whose benefits coverage status was impacted by the strike.
  • A Strike Premium Reconciliation Guide and a Premium Reconciliation Spreadsheet to assist colleges in completing post-strike insured benefits premium reconciliation.

Bargaining Update 

Part-time Academic Staff

The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), on April 16, 2025, officially certified a union for part-time and sessional professors, instructors, counsellors and librarians, to be represented by OPSEU. Both sides have been preparing for the commencement of bargaining but no dates have been confirmed at this time.
Further updates will be provided once dates have been set.

Part-time Support Staff

CEC and the OPSEU part-time support staff bargaining team are currently involved in mediation with Mediator William Kaplan. In order to respect the mediation process, both sides have agreed that no information about the negotiations will be publicly shared until the mediation has concluded. The final scheduled date for mediation is January 28, 2026.

Full-time Support Staff

Full-time support staff at Ontario colleges have voted to ratify a renewal collective agreement on November 4, 2025. The tentative agreement was reached after a weekend-long private mediation session broke a bargaining impasse and ended a five-week strike on October 15, 2025.

The new collective agreement three-year term will end on August 31, 2028.

Full-time and Partial-Load Academic Employees

Ontario colleges and their full-time academic employees finalized a new three-year collective agreement, following a mediated arbitration award issued by Arbitrator William Kaplan on July 2, 2025. The renewed collective agreement expires on September 30, 2027.