Let's all go to the concession stand....

During the current OPSEU 'Work Stoppage' STRIKE there's lots of talking points about Academic Freedom and Concessions. 

I hear the complaints "because of the concessions", "too many dangerous concessions" etc.   What are all these concessions anyway?  For starters they are difficult to identify given OPSEU's vague references to them but after reading both offers and the newsletters I have come up with a list.

Although it seems hard to believe but many were not aware that there is a new, negotiated offer - the one they are supposed to be voting on.  I am also hoping that people have read both offers and not just relied on propaganda and word of mouth.  What follows presumes you've read both offers.



Current Management Offer
Current Union Offer


Now to the Concession stand we go....


Article 2 - NOT A CONCESSION.  The union gets their right to grieve back as that language was removed from the current offer.  Awesome!

2.03C - NOT A CONCESSION.  The union wants to back-grieve for grieving missed during the moratorium.  You agreed on the language of the moratorium - now it's removed.  Back-grieving would be going against the union's bargained word and that's not in good faith.

2.04 and .05 - NOT A CONCESSION.  The bargained collective agreement doesn't apply to non-
union workers - that's exactly what Bill-148 will deal with.  If and when the union gets them in their membership then it applies.

Article 8 - NOT A CONCESSION.  Changes are minimal.  The union does not like these changes as they will no longer get their full salary to perform union business. That's a good thing as their salary is for teaching.  Everything else still gets paid though, pensions contributions, health benefits, other fringe benefits.  Awesome!

Article 11 - Apparently these concessions will 'gut' workload protection....Nope - NO CONCESSIONS to see here:

• 11.01B It does not eliminate the cap because the extension has to be agreed upon by BOTH the teacher and the supervisor.
• Teaching contact hours .... the union agrees with this - how is it a concession?
• 11.01d3 0  - NOT A CONCESSION  - covered in article 11.08
• 11.01h3 - NOT A CONCESSION  - it's standard PD approval.  Faculty won't be unreasonably denied.  A very fair and reasonable method.
• 11.04b3 same as 11.01h3 above - and it's not a blatant attack on faculty professionalism and academic freedom.  That's just being over-dramatic.
• 11.01j - NOT A CONCESSION.  It does not create  an unlimited overtime situation .  It just means faculty still won't work more than 18 hours per week in the classroom (nice).  And, no it won't lead to undue stress.

Academic Freedom

This isn't new - it's something the union has wanted for a long time.   It's just made a more notable appearance in this campaign.   Academic Freedom is a collaborative process with all members of the college community.  It cannot occur with a single faculty member.   No one would want a single entity making decisions on anything - that's not democratic. Management''s offer is democratic, with sanity controls built-in - the union's offer is archaic and dictator-like.  Absolute power......as they say.

Class Definition - NOT A CONCESSION

Faculty do not want to operate "under the direction of the senior academic officer of the College or designate".   Well that's nice but completely ridiculous.  These are some of the checks and balances that make the system successful.


The union does not want the academic freedom letter of understanding that management offered.  Instead, they want additional articles added that they can grieve on.  The union wording gives them complete freedom to do whatever they want - that would be a very dangerous thing.


Article 14 - Salaries - NOT A CONCESSION - it clarifies how partial load and full time faculty get paid by the wage schedule or by the salary schedule - respectively.  Yes, wages and salary are different.


Return to work (RTW) protocol - OK THIS ONE IS A CONCESSION - but it's deserved.   Faculty voted in favour of a strike - that's the risk.  Faculty are  going to lose 1/216 of their annual salary for every day of the work stoppage and they won't be credited as having worked it.  That's fair.   What's completely ridiculous is that the union wants those days recorded on the faculty SWF?!?!?!?!?

Also related to RTW,  the union wants to back grieve 1400 grievances from their previous 2006 work stoppage.  They agreed not to during the past strike, move on.


Appointment Factors  - NOT A CONCESSION

Six years is the maximum qualification credit.  Makes sense - this is College remember?

Also, faculty won't get credit for years when double-dipping occurred by taking similar duplicate studies.  Makes sense.

The Flexibility of Maths

In the latest OPSEU bargaining bulletin #9 OPSEU indicates the increase would be 3.25% however it is painting the most negative picture possible. Mathematically, one needs to consider _all_ the increases. You just can't add up the increases in year 2 and 3 and say it's only 3.25 over three years. Well, you can, and that's what you'll get but it's not very accurate.

The increase would be more like 4.78%, or if you want to use a bleaker and somewhat false number then 3.28%, but not 3.25% as the bulletin states.

For example:

Using a ten dollar hourly wage, times 70 hours times 26 weeks = 18,200 per year

Year 1 of a new contract you would not get an hourly wage increase. Instead you would get a lump sum of 1.5 %
or $273 for a yearly income of $18,473 : an increase of $273

In year 2 you would get a 1.5% wage increase. You are now making 10.15 per hour.
times 70 times 26 =18.,473 : an increase of $273

In year 3 you would get a 1.75% wage increase. You are now making 10.327625 per hour.
times 70 times 26 = 18,796.277500 : an increase of 323.2775

Total increase = 869.2775 That, as a percent of your pre-contract yearly income, is a 4.776250% increase over the three years.

Even if you ignore the lump sum, your increase is 596.2775, a 3.276250% increase

Neither is close to 3.25%, at least not mathematically.