Colleges call on OPSEU to drop poison pills blocking a deal to prevent disruption for Ontario students

Today, the College Employer Council (CEC) confirmed it has proposed in writing that OPSEU immediately remove two of its unreasonable “poison pill” demands that are blocking a settlement.

Those two demands are 1) a complete ban on college or campus mergers or closures during the life of the agreement, and 2) a total prohibition on any staff reductions, regardless of circumstance.

These poison pills were added by the union’s negotiating team 11 days into bargaining, and only after union members voted to strike.

“There remain many issues to address at the bargaining table. However, these are demands no college operating in Ontario could ever accept,” said Graham Lloyd, CEO of the College Employer Council. “OPSEU is ignoring the reality that college enrollment and revenues are down as much as 50 per cent. No organization managing a drop like this can commit to these out-of-touch demands. They go far beyond the scope of collective bargaining and threaten the sustainability of Ontario’s college system. Removing these demands will go a long way to negotiating a renewal agreement. Insisting these demands remain on the table makes it clear OPSEU is more interested in a strike than a deal.”

CEC has acted in good faith throughout the bargaining process, offering more than $140 million in wages and benefits and job security. CEC has repeatedly requested mediation/arbitration, which OPSEU has rejected.

Why suffer a strike for demands that can never be accepted?

CEC awaits OPSEU’s response to this request.