As you may be aware, the College Employer Council (CEC) and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union CAAT-A (OPSEU), which represents full-time and partial load academic faculty, librarians, and counsellors at all 24 Ontario colleges, are negotiating a new collective agreement. This agreement, which defines their terms of employment, expired on September 30, 2024.

Formal negotiations between the parties started in July. In October, the OPSEU bargaining team requested conciliation — a process where the parties seek to reach a settlement with the assistance of a conciliator, appointed by the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development — and a strike vote. On October 18, academic employees at Ontario colleges voted in support of strike action. While this vote means that the union has a strike mandate, both parties remain in conciliation and other conditions need to be met before the union is in a position to call a strike. With conciliation still underway, classes, labs and campus operations remain unaffected.

What you need to know:

• At this time, college business continues as usual. All classes, activities and events remain unaffected.
• Durham College remains hopeful that a settlement will be reached between OPSEU and the CEC.
• No Ontario college student has ever lost their academic year because of a work stoppage.
• We will continue to share information and updates with you via email as well as through Durham College’s Academic Bargaining webpage.

• College Employer Council
• OPSEU