Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, 2017, S.O. 2017, c. 21

• Jurisdiction: Ontario
• Year: 2000

Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Labour Dispute Resolution Act, 2017

S.o. 2017, chapter 21

Consolidation Period: From November 19, 2017 to the e-Laws currency date.

Note: This Act is repealed on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor. (See: 2017, c. 21, s. 20)

No amendments.

Preamble

The statutory objects of Ontario’s colleges of applied arts and technology are to offer a comprehensive program of career-oriented, post-secondary education and training to assist individuals in finding and keeping employment, to meet the needs of employers and the changing work environment and to support the economic and social development of their local and diverse communities.

The College Employer Council, which represents Ontario’s colleges for bargaining purposes, and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union were parties to a collective agreement for full-time academic staff that expired on September 30, 2017. The approximately 12,225 faculty (composed of teachers, counsellors and librarians) belonging to the bargaining unit covered by that collective agreement work at 24 colleges across the province.

The parties have engaged in collective bargaining for a new collective agreement for almost 5 months, including mediation with the assistance of the Ministry of Labour, but have failed to resolve the issues in dispute. A strike commenced on October 16, 2017, and classes have been cancelled for approximately five weeks. Continuing efforts of the Ministry of Labour to assist the parties in resolving their differences through mediation have proved unsuccessful.

A vote of the members of the bargaining unit in respect of the Council’s last offer was conducted by the Ontario Labour Relations Board. That offer was rejected by the members of the bargaining unit. Negotiations have reached an impasse and the parties are deadlocked.

As a result, the education and preparation for employment of over 220,000 full-time students has been disrupted. College students are a diverse group, including recent secondary school graduates and adults strengthening their work skills or seeking retraining, who come from diverse demographic backgrounds. For a significant number of students, the completion of their academic studies and the successful achievement of the program learning outcomes required for job readiness may be at serious risk.

Education by Ontario’s colleges of applied arts and technology serves a critical public function. The colleges deliver approximately 2,400 post-secondary programs approved for funding by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development at more than 125 locations across Ontario. These programs prepare students for entry into the Ontario labour market. Colleges also deliver approximately 1,430 apprenticeship classes for over 25,000 apprentices, about 8,520 of whom were expected to complete their final level of training this fall. The work stoppage has affected over 8,000 Literacy and Basic Skills and Academic Upgrading learners, almost 2,000 Second Career clients attending a training program at a college and over 5,000 active Employment Services clients participating in assisted services delivered by colleges.

This disruption has significant educational, financial and personal implications for students and their families. These negative consequences, particularly for vulnerable students, may be long term in nature. The continuation of this dispute gives rise to serious public interest concerns.

Having regard to these serious circumstances and the deadlock in negotiations, the public interest requires an exceptional and temporary solution to address the matters in dispute so that a new collective agreement may be concluded through a fair process of mediation-arbitration, so that faculty and students can return to class and so that the colleges can resume providing post-secondary education and preparation for employment.

Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Interpretation and Application

Definitions

1 (1) In this Act,

“bargaining agent” means the Ontario Public Service Employees Union; (“agent négociateur”)

“bargaining unit” means the full-time academic staff bargaining unit described in section 1 of Schedule 1 to the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008; (“unité de négociation”)

“employees” means the employees of an employer who are represented by the bargaining agent; (“employés”)

“Minister” means the Minister of Labour; (“ministre”)

“new collective agreement” means a collective agreement that,

(a) applies to the employees in the bargaining unit, and

(b) is executed after the day this Act receives Royal Assent or comes into force under subsection 19 (5); (“nouvelle convention collective”)

“parties”, when used in relation to a dispute, a mediation-arbitration proceeding dealing with the dispute or a new collective agreement, means the Council and the bargaining agent. (“parties”)

Interpretation

(2) Expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as in the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008, unless the context requires otherwise.

Application of Act

2 (1) This Act applies to the Council, the employers, the bargaining agent and the employees in the bargaining unit if the Council and the bargaining agent have not executed a collective agreement after September 30, 2017 and before the day this Act receives Royal Assent with respect to the bargaining unit.

Application of Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008

(2) Except as modified by this Act, the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act, 2008 applies to the Council, the employers, the bargaining agent and the employees in the bargaining...