The bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 public colleges and the union representing faculty have agreed to enter into binding arbitration, avoiding a strike.
The College Employer Council and the Ontario Public Services Employees Union met this week in Toronto for mediation following months of bargaining.
The union, which represents more than 15,000 faculty members across the province, had said some form of labour action could have begun on Thursday after it gave five days’ notice last week.
It said Tuesday that “significant benefit gains” were agreed upon with the employers but that the sides otherwise remained at an impasse, with the outstanding items to be resolved by the arbitrator.
Key issues include work conditions, job security and quality of education.
The College Employer Council says classes will continue as scheduled this week.
“It was important to us to provide stability to students at the start of their semester,” Laurie Rancourt, chair of the CEC’s bargaining team, said in a statement.
The colleges include:
Algonquin College
Cambrian College
Canadore College
Centennial College
College Boreal
Conestoga College
Confederation College
Durham College
Fanshawe College
Fleming College
George Brown College
Georgian College
Humber College
La Cite collegiale
Lambton College
Loyalist College
Mohawk College
Niagara College
Northern College
St. Clair College
St. Lawrence College
Sault College
Seneca Polytechnic
Sheridan College