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Ont. college faculty vote too close to determine

Ontario Public Service Employees Union says mail-in ballots remain to be counted over the next 10 days.

Toronto (11 Feb. 2010) - The results of the vote by faculty members in Ontario’s 24 community colleges – on the employer’s last contract offer – are too close to determine whether the offer has been accepted or rejected.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) says the known vote was 51% in favor – a margin of just 201 votes – but more than 300 mail-in votes remain to be counted and could potentially change the outcome. "Those results may not be known for up to 10 days or more," the union says.

As many as 10,000 faculty members were eligible to cast ballots.

Ted Montgomery, chair of the OPSEU bargaining team for the faculty, says that the union will have to get a clear determination of the final vote count before any decisions are made.

“Right now we do not have a clear and final majority either way,” Montgomery said. “Until we know for sure whether our members have accepted or rejected the employer offer, we cannot move forward.”

If the offer is ultimately rejected, he said, the union will then determine a new strike date and call on the colleges to return to the bargaining table to negotiate a fair collective agreement.

“If rejected, we will ask the employer to immediately resume negotiations and, failing a negotiated contract, we will again urge the colleges to submit all outstanding issues to binding arbitration.”

OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says a strike can be avoided even if the eventual outcome is a rejection of the employer’s offer.

“We do not want any disruption to the students,” Thomas said. “We have maintained the position all along that if we can’t get an agreement, binding arbitration is how we want to proceed. If the colleges don’t agree, then they and they alone will be responsible for jeopardizing the education of 200,000 Ontario college students.”
 
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The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE