Welcome

In this edition of CEC’s newsletter, we provide an update on academic part-time and sessional bargaining, improvements to CAAT benefits, and announce a CEC member retirement after 39 years.

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What's going on?

CAAT Benefits Updates

The following updates highlight several recent changes made to Extended Health Care (EHC) coverage, that apply to all employee groups.

·       Medical Cannabis Coverage Extended to Include Chronic and Neuropathic Pain Conditions.

·       FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) and devices recently became covered under the CAAT Group Insurance Plans.

·       The suite of letters used to notify plan members regarding the status of their Long Term Disability claims have been updated. The letters are designed to be more clearly structured in their layout and content and better understood by the plan member.

·       Sun Life has launched a new Life Insurance eClaims platform, that has been designed to simplify the life insurance claim submission process.

Webinar Recap: Working with External Investigators part 2

CEC and Turnpenney Milne LLP conducted a webinar for College HR professionals, Safety & Security and Student Rights & Responsibilities leaders, and General Counsel.

·   How to frame the investigation properly

·   How to set the investigation/ investigator up for success

·   How to conserve evidence for use in the investigation (including navigating privacy considerations)

Bargaining Update

Part-time Academic and Sessional Bargaining (CAAT-A PT/SL)

On June 2, 2026, the OPSEU CAAT-A PT/SL and CEC Management bargaining teams met at the bargaining table.

The CEC expressed serious concerns regarding the current pace and direction of negotiations. We received notice to bargain a year ago but only started bargaining in April. We have learned that the Union priority setting for CAAT-A PT/SL just happened on June 18, 2026. 

To date, there is only one more bargaining day scheduled. Since our March meeting, the OPSEU Bargaining team has rejected 21 out of 22 proposed potential bargaining dates despite Management offering provisions to help ensure the CAAT-A PT/SL team is available regardless of teaching schedule.

While at the bargaining table, the OPSEU CAAT-A PT/SL Bargaining Team rejected Management’s request that there should be no misrepresentations regarding proposals and/ or discussion at the bargaining table. Unfortunately, in their May 27 Communications, the OPSEU Bargaining team misrepresented management’s request regarding timing of communications by stating we were seeking a media blackout. This is false.

Management is committed to accurate representation of all proposals. We encourage those who are interested to see all proposals, including the proposed Ground Rules that have been rejected. All documents exchanged at the table are available on the CEC website here.

To move us toward a collective agreement, CEC’s priority is to finalize a comprehensive set of non-monetary proposals. We expect the exact same preparation from OPSEU so that, when we next meet, we can each receive a complete package of our respective non-monetary proposals in order to engage in meaningful negotiations.

Our next bargaining date is August 19, 2026. After that no other dates have been agreed upon or proposed by the OPSEU CAAT-A PT/SL team.

Meet the CEC Team

The CEC supports Ontario’s colleges with essential services in labour relations, benefits, governance, and human resources. Behind that work is a team of experienced and deeply committed professionals who support colleges and their employees every day.

Through this profile series, we invite you to get to know the people behind the work and the roles they play in assisting colleges.

Stephen Lee Kam - Human Resources Consultant, Benefits & Compensation

Over the last few newsletters this section introduces members of the CEC team. Now, CEC is announcing the retirement of a long-serving member of our team, Stephen Lee Kam, whose last day will be August 31, 2026.

Stephen has had a successful 50-year career in the employee benefits and pensions fields. Prior to joining the CEC, Stephen worked with several national insurance companies, specializing in group insurance administration and pensions and their contracts.

Stephen works with the Benefits and Compensation team to advise on the interpretation and application of benefit provisions within group insurance contracts and collective agreements for unionized and non-unionized employees, ensuring consistency, compliance, and alignment across the sector. More recently, Stephen has been focusing on providing policy guidance and interpretation regarding the retiree benefit plans as well as the Academic legacy Sick Leave plans.

During his career with CEC, (and the former Council of Regents and the College Compensation and Appointments Council), Stephen represented CEC in the following undertakings:

• The implementation of Academic Sick Leave Buyout Task Force in 1991 in compliance with Martin Teplitsky Settlement
• The creation and implementation of the jointly Sponsored and Trusteed CAAT Pension Plan in 1995 (transitioned from a sole-sponsor arrangement under the sponsorship of the Council of Regents with funding administered by OMERS)
• The creation of the CAAT Supplementary Pension Plan (RCA) in 1993 and its subsequent transition to the CAAT Pension Plan in 1996
• The Demutualization of Sun Life Financial in 1999, as it applied to the Colleges of Applied Arts & Technology benefit plans
• The creation of the CAAT Retiree Benefits Program in 2005 and the ongoing management and design of that program
• Co-chaired the four Joint Insurance Committees that oversee insured benefits for Academic, Support and Administrative employees as well as for retired college employees
• Sat at the bargaining table to provide benefits guidance to the management team through several rounds of collective bargaining
• Participated on the Colleges Pension Working Group that assisted CAAT Plan to formalize the definition of part-time employment which then enabled the plan to establish the DB Plus pension structure to accommodate part-time pension participation

Stephen was the HR and Compensation Coordinator for the former Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities while the Council was an agency of that Ministry. He also undertook the role of move coordinator to facilitate several of CEC’s office relocations prior to landing at its current address.

Stephen is a Fellow of the Life Management Institute (FLMI) with specialties in Group Insurance and Pensions. He has a Certificate in Employee Benefits from Humber College and has a Certificate in Marketing Management from Toronto Metropolitan University (Ryerson).

Please join us in congratulating Stephen on a career of tremendous impact on college employee benefits and pensions, and his upcoming retirement.