Late Tuesday night, the College Employer Council (CEC) and CAAT-A, the bargaining team representing college faculty, librarians and counsellors reached an agreement, narrowly avoiding a faculty strike.

“Today, the parties signed a Memorandum of Agreement, with significant benefit gains, particularly for our most precarious members,” OPSEU, the union representing college faculty said in a statement on Jan. 7. “Using the leverage of a historic strike mandate, faculty were able to compel the CEC to withdraw significant concessions.”

Both parties will now enter into binding arbitration mediation with Arbitrator William Kaplan. Binding arbitration is a process where the union and employer agree that a third party will decide the terms of the new collective agreement.

“It was important to us to provide stability to students at the start of their semester,” said Dr. Laurie Rancourt, Chair of the Management Bargaining team. “We are encouraged that OPSEU has prioritized students by agreeing to binding arbitration.” 

With the strike averted, classes will now continue as scheduled with no interruptions to the semester.

According to OPSEU, precarity for staff and faculty at Ontario colleges remains an issue, particularly in the wake of federal restrictions to international student visas.

“Faculty’s fight to save the colleges isn’t over–and it won’t be limited to the bargaining table,” OPSEU said in a statement on Jan. 7.

“College students are reduced to walking dollar signs for the same reason that 75 per cent of faculty are precarious, working contract-to-contract,” said JP Hornick, President of OPSEU. “It’s a corporate model of education that funnels student tuition away from their education and towards the ballooning salaries of ever-multiplying college administrators who will never step foot in the classroom, or vanity projects to attract investors.”

For now, the union said Kaplan will rule on a new contract for college faculty at a future date, once any outstanding demands are resolved through the arbitration process.