Sides to return to bargaining as Ontario college strike deadline looms Friday

The two sides trying to negotiate a new contract for college faculty in Ontario will meet virtually Thursday with a Ministry of Labour mediator.

OPSEU has set a strike deadline of Friday. The College Employer Council (CEC), which represents management, said in a news release Wednesday they asked the union to meet with them Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The CEC said they have a letter from Treasury Board Secretariat "affirming our position that union workload demands, given the one per cent wage increase already given, contravene Bill 124."

While OPSEU rejected talks on the weekend, they agreed to a virtual meeting Thursday.

The CEC said it hoped "to engage in a discussion about where both parties can compromise to reach a reasonable agreement."

The main sticking point in the talks is workload for professors that have increased in recent years. The CEC said it is committed to a long-term solution.

"We know that workload demands have evolved over the past 10 years," the CEC said.

"We remain committed to a comprehensive, neutral-led workload review, the findings of which will result in changes based on joint recommendations. Together, we can find the common ground needed to make meaningful workload formula changes."

The CEC is the government-mandated bargaining agent for the 24 Ontario publicly funded colleges in negotiating collective agreements with unionized staff.

OPSEU, which represents 16,000 faculty in the province, has urged the CEC to refer any outstanding issues to binding arbitration to avoid a strike.