Faculty at Ontario’s 24 community colleges voted narrowly to accept a three-year contract offer from college management last month that their union, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, had urged them to reject.
OPSEU chief negotiator Ted Montgomery said the employer’s fear campaign played a role in the marginal acceptance of the offer.
“We did not want a labour disruption, and had a plan to avoid one, but the employer took the stance with our members that it was either accept the offer or be forced out on strike,” he said.
“This vote is not an endorsement of the imposed terms and conditions or the employer’s last offer. Fear of a long strike, according to most reports, was a key factor.”
Montgomery said the union is disappointed that recommendations of a 2009 workload task force — a key bargaining issue — will not be implemented.
“Our task now is to work to resolve the problems in the system that the colleges failed to address this time,” he said.
College faculty had been without a contract since August 2009.