Students FAQ | College Employer Council

A strike may take different forms. In general, it is a refusal to work in the normal way that is designed to slow down, disrupt, or stop operations. A strike is organized by a Union as a form of protest typically in an attempt to force the employer to agree to their demands.
Unfortunately, in the Colleges, when a faculty member chooses to apply pressure by slowing down, disrupting or stopping work, these actions lead to varying degrees of negative impact on students.

Work-to-rule, partial walk-out, rotating strike, and full walk-out are all forms of strike.
In work-to-rule, employees perform only the duties that have been assigned, strictly adhering to policy and contract obligations.
In a partial walk-out, employees refuse to perform some of their assigned duties.
In a rotating strike, employees walk out entirely for short periods of time at different institutions.
In a full walk-out strike, employees withdraw all their services and choose to walk the picket line.

Labour action does mean strike. Strike action can take various forms, which include: work-to-rule, partial walk-out, rotating strike, all the way up to a full walk-out.
Only the Union can determine what forms of strike action will occur and when.

In work-to-rule, employees perform only the duties that have been assigned, strictly adhering to policy and contract obligations.

In work-to-rule, teachers continue to teach their classes and perform duties as assigned.

The CEC and the Union are in agreement on the importance of working groups for Equity Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI), Indigeneity, and workload. The parties disagree on how recommendations from the working groups should be implemented.
Union demands on workload exceed limitations currently imposed by law (Bill 124) within the province of Ontario.
Additionally, the parties disagree on ownership of intellectual property and the Colleges’ right to assign work across employee groups.

Introducing terms and conditions means the Colleges make changes to the employment contracts of the bargaining unit members.
As of Monday December 13, the CEC has introduced terms and conditions to give employees raises, improve benefits, and initiate other improvements in working conditions.
This does not affect the delivery of your program or your classes, lock anyone out of the College, or mean that negotiations cannot continue.

No.
Introducing terms and conditions does not affect the ability of full-time and partial-load professors and instructors to teach. Nor will it affect the way in which classes are delivered.

Work-to-rule should not affect your classes.
Work-to-rule means employees continue to do their job performing duties they have been assigned such as teaching and grading.

The Colleges cannot force faculty to go on strike.
Only the Union team can determine what form of strike action it engages in (work-to-rule, partial walk-out, rotating strikes, walk-out).

They can last for a day or for an extended period of time.
Currently, the Union has been engaged in strike action since December 18, 2021.
In 2017, the Union engaged in a full walk-out strike that lasted for more than 5 weeks. Students were still able to complete their semester.

Yes, campuses will remain open subject to pandemic restrictions.
When picket lines occur, picketers cannot prevent access to those looking to enter campus.
In the event of a full walk-out which includes picket lines, information will be provided by your College on how to safely access campus.

There is the potential the Winter 2022 semester could be interrupted and/or extended.
The current strike action could escalate further. However, if the semester is impacted, Colleges will do everything possible to ensure that all students have the opportunity to complete the semester.

Go to your College website for updates on the labour dispute.
If you plan to visit campus, leave extra time for travelling to the college as picket lines may be set up at campus entrances and limit traffic flow.
If there is a full walk-out strike and you take transit to campus, be aware that transit buses will drop students off outside of the campus to respect picket lines.

In response to the union’s request for voluntary binding arbitration, the CEC had proposed final offer selection which built in the opportunity for mediation, and if an agreement could not be reached the selection of one proposal in its entirety.
The CEC believes its offer is fair and reasonably addresses the issues presented by the Union.

The academic employee demands do cost money and contravene legislation.
Bill 124 limits the Colleges ability to increase compensation as it relates to workload by more than 1%.
The Colleges cannot go against legislation.

The CEC has not walked away from the table.
The CEC remains engaged in the negotiation process and, once again, advanced a revised proposal on November 23 which the Union has yet to acknowledge or respond to.
We have offered through the conciliator to meet with the Union once they remove the unreasonable and unlawful demands from their proposal.

The CEC website contains information on the bargaining process and an ongoing archive of proposals from both parties.
Additionally, all news updates are published across CEC social media channels and the website.
Please visit CollegeEmployerCouncil.ca or follow the CEC on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube.

The full offer is available on collegeemployercouncil.ca

Increase annual wage to the maximum, retroactive to October 1^st 2021, as currently allowed under Bill 124.
Include medical cannabis coverage prescribed by a licensed physician to a maximum of $4000/year, subject to prior authorization by the insurer.
Enable Indigenous teachers to bring an elder or traditional knowledge keeper to the WMG as an advisor.
Enable Indigenous employees to bring an elder or traditional knowledge keeper to grievance meetings as an advisor.
Document Coordinator duties before an employee accepts a coordinatorship. Such acceptance will remain voluntary.
Update the counsellor class definition.
Enable Partial Load employees to accrue service for statutory Holidays on which they were scheduled to teach.
Change Partial Load registration date from October 30^th to April 30^th.
Extend Partial Load registration preference to courses which a partial load employee taught while part-time or sessional.
Continue Partial Load priority for a course even if the course code changes, unless there has been a major revision of the course or curriculum.
Add a new Letter of Understanding regarding the creation of a Workload Committee. The parties agree to engage in a two-step process with the purpose of resolving workload considerations. The Committee shall discuss and examine issues relating to the assignment of work to full-time faculty under Article 11 and to partial-load faculty under Article 26.

Recognize the parties’ shared commitment to achieving employment equity within the college system. The parties shall establish a subcommittee of the Union/College Committee who shall, working in consultation with the existing college committees addressing EDI issues, report to the full UCC which shall then make annual recommendations to the President.
Add new Letter of Understanding on Indigenization, Decolonization, and Truth and Reconciliation. OPSEU shall join with the CEC in establishing a collaborative Indigenous-driven process to work on issues related to Indigeneity in the context of employment under the Academic and Support Staff collective agreements within the Colleges.
Identify two Indigenous arbitrators to be added to the list of arbitrators used in arbitration processes and listed in the Collective Agreement.

The Colleges will continue to operate until an agreement is reached or OPSEU decides to escalate beyond work-to-rule.

The CEC and academic employees have been meeting since July.
There is no set date for negotiations to conclude.
The Colleges will continue to operate until the Union escalates strike action or a new collective agreement is agreed upon.

The Union has publicly stated that what they refer to as work-to-rule will not negatively affect students.
At this time, midterms and study week should not be affected by the current bargaining impasse.

The Colleges will continue to operate until the Union escalates strike action or a new collective agreement is agreed upon.
Only the Union can determine how long faculty will engage in what they refer to as work-to-rule.

The Union has publicly stated that what they refer to as work-to-rule will not negatively affect students.
If your teacher has said they cannot help you, reach out to the department chair, associate dean, or dean and let them know.

The government does not get involved with College bargaining unless absolutely necessary.
In 2017, the government legislated faculty back to work after 5 weeks of engaging in a full walk-out. The Union is currently in the process of challenging this decision.

The CEC did not leave the table.
The CEC has dropped all of its proposals for purposes of settlement and has agreed to many Union demands already.
The Union has said it has gone as far as it can on remaining issues.
The CEC has asked for nothing in the new Collective agreement and will not agree to:
- Inclusion of interest arbitration as the default decision making process for key working groups/ initiatives within the collective agreement
- Workload amendments that contravene legislation (Bill 124)
- Intellectual property claims for work that employees are already paid to create
- Restrictions that infringe on other employee groups

Voluntary binding interest arbitration is a process when both parties submit proposals to an outside third party (an arbitrator) who reviews the demands and decides what should and shouldn’t be in the collective agreement. Their decision is final and must be accepted by both parties.
The Union has asked the CEC to consider voluntary binding interest arbitration on outstanding issues. With respect to the outstanding issues, the Colleges have stated since August 2021, that they can never accept what the Union is demanding. The Colleges are not seeking anything from the Union and in the circumstances cannot agree to entering voluntarily into binding interest arbitration on these outstanding issues.
The CEC is not prepared to agree to have an arbitrator "split the difference" on key issues that Colleges have already stated are unacceptable to begin with. In essence, there is nothing to split.

Colleges will inform students about the status of classes.
Check your College website for more information.

Colleges will inform students about the status of convocation.
Check your College website for more information.

The Colleges cannot force faculty to go on strike.
Only the Union can determine if they are on strike and what form that strike action takes (work-to-rule, full walk-out etc).
The Colleges have been able to address and agree to many of the Union’s demands. Colleges are not currently seeking any concessions from faculty. There remain a few demands from faculty that the CEC/Colleges have consistently said they cannot agree to for fiscal, legislative, or operational reasons.

The Colleges are not escalating. The Union has chosen to escalate its strike action.

The Union has asked the CEC to consider voluntary binding interest arbitration on outstanding issues. With respect to the outstanding issues, the Colleges have stated since August 2021, that they can never accept what the Union is demanding. The Colleges are not seeking anything from the Union and in the circumstances cannot agree to enter voluntarily into binding interest arbitration on these outstanding issues.
The CEC is not prepared to agree to have an arbitrator "split the difference" on key issues that Colleges have already stated are unacceptable to begin with. In essence, there is nothing to split.
Colleges have not refused arbitration but provided an alternative arbitration proposal for the same purpose of ending the impasse. The Colleges have asked the Union to reconsider an alternative proposal for an arbitrated solution to ensure there will be no harm or interruption for students.

On March 17, the CEC and OPSEU academic employee bargaining team agreed to enter into unconditional interest arbitration.
This means that there are no conditions attached to the interest arbitration such as the arbitrator only looking at recent proposals.
Specifically, except with respect to the new terms which were implemented on December 13, 2021, the CEC’s matters before the arbitrator are as they existed on September 15, 2021, including proposals M09, M10a, M10b, and M11
The Union’s matters before the arbitrator set out in its nonmonetary proposals as they existed on September 15, 2021, and its monetary proposals as they existed on October 19, 2021
The collective agreement will be decided by the arbitrator.
There will be no strike and classes will run as per usual.