News

The school year for Ontario college students hangs in the balance after a vote by instructors was too close to call late Wednesday.

Unionized faculty members voted 51.25 per cent in favour of the employer’s final contract offer, an unofficial decision that has averted a strike as the Ontario Labour Relations Board awaits more than 300 mail-in votes and segregated ballots.

The official count will be revealed after all ballots are counted, a process that will likely take about 10 days. The offer on the table includes a 5.9-per-cent pay increase over three years, which would increase the maximum salary to more than $102,000 by September 2011.

The union has highlighted workload as a major issue in the negotiations.

The delay is yet another hurdle for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which asked members to reject the offer. The union will not proceed with the scheduled strike on Feb 17th, OPSEU negotiating team chairman Ted Montgomery said.

"I’m very disappointed. I would’ve preferred the faculty would’ve rejected the offer, [but] obviously the union operates on a democratic basis."

Don Sinclair, executive director of the College Compensation and Appointments Council, said the preliminary count was encouraging, though they’re still holding their breath for the final verdict.

"We are pleased that so many faculty saw this offer as fair and reasonable," he said.

But for students, it’s just one more exhausting extension on the delays since they learned their education might be put on hold by a strike, said Tyler Charlebois, director of advocacy for the College Student Alliance.

"We have the official final-offer vote, then we got some unofficial results; but again, it’s still a waiting game," he says.

"Another 'in a week or two': Students have to wait to know officially whether or not their education is going to be interrupted."

The close margin suggests to students there is much work to be done before a satisfactory deal can be met, Mr. Charlebois said.

"Faculty are not overwhelmingly excited about the offer the college has put forward, and they’re not overwhelmingly pleased with their union. It should be a sign to both sides that they’ve not done something right."

His organization is urging faculty to return their focus to training students and helping them finish their school year.

The union and the employers, meanwhile, stressed that the last thing they want to do is disrupt the education of students and that they hope to expedite the counting process.

Under Ontario law, employers can ask for a secret-ballot vote of union members on a contract offer just once in each round of bargaining. That was the route taken last year when contract faculty and teaching assistants went on strike at York University. In that case, the employer’s offer was rejected.