The union representing striking Ontario college faculty is calling on its members to reject their employers’ latest contract offer.
Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Warren “Smokey” Thomas called the College Employer Council “mean spirited” a day after the council asked the Ontario Labour Relations Board to schedule a vote on the offer.
Thomas called for the council to come back to the bargaining table while the labour board prepares for the vote. OPSEU bargaining team chair JP Hornick says the colleges came back to the union Monday night with changes to the offer that she says “undermine” contract faculty and create “unlimited overtime,” among other measures the union would not accept.
Sonia Del Missier, the chair of the colleges’ bargaining team, has said the council had addressed the union’s concerns about job security, wages and academic freedom.
The strike, which involves college professors, instructors, counselors, and librarians, began Oct. 15 and has left 500,000 full time and part time students out of class.