Strike continues after union ultimatum

• Two steps forward and two steps back! OPSEU moves backwards in negotiations and continues to set ultimatums
• CEC calls on OPSEU to share its latest offer with full-time support staff: “Let them see the offer”
• CEC wants a settlement and has put a viable path forward

The College Employer Council (CEC) is expressing deep frustration after the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) bargaining team abruptly reversed course during mediation talks, derailing progress and prolonging the full-time support staff strike at Ontario’s publicly funded colleges.

Originally scheduled for one day, mediation (which took place under a blackout) extended through the weekend due to what seemed to be promising developments. Over three days, and nearly 40 hours with a mediator, CEC tabled enhanced offers - now exceeding $155 million -including improvements to things like contracting out and tech change protections, increased wages, on-call pay, and bereavement leave.

While OPSEU removed two of its “poison pills,” those that were added midway through bargaining, late Saturday night, the union tabled an ultimatum proposal that went back on real progress made hours earlier and over the previous two days, demanding:

1. a ban on all contracting out unless explicitly approved by the union
2. restrictions on collaborative work, that would hinder service delivery to students and grind operations to a halt. 

“Support Staff employees already have protections in these areas. The current collective agreement already prohibits layoffs as a direct result of contracting out (see Appendix I, page 120 of the Collective Agreement),” said CEC. “OPSEU is going much further by insisting colleges can never contract out any services without its permission. It is not possible to operate a college that way, but we listened to the union’s concerns, and they rejected CEC’s proposed enhanced protections in this area.

“As well, collaborative work restrictions have never existed in the 50-plus year history of public colleges. We rejected this when the Academic unit demanded it, and we will continue to reject it now because this goes against the long-established culture of these institutions. OPSEU’s proposal would mean an administrator could not trouble shoot an issue with their laptop or a dean could not advise a student about financial aid.  Separating tasks by work groups would grind operations to a halt and leave colleges with no ability to respond to student needs in real time.” 

“The CEC proposals reflect a serious and genuine effort to reach a fair renewal agreement,” said CEC. “We made real progress until OPSEU communicated that there could be no agreement unless CEC accepted the union’s restrictions on contracting out or collaborative work. We have clearly communicated to them since bargaining began that we can never accept these demands.

“This kind of bargaining - where the union moves backward and sets ultimatums - undermines the progress made,” CEC continued. “Negotiating against receding horizons only undoes days of progress we achieved together.”

CEC’s latest offer provides a reasonable way forward. On September 28, 2025, CEC asked OPSEU to share the CEC proposals and accompanying documents with the full-time support staff membership so they can see the full scope of what is being offered. 

A link to these documents can be found here.