Message Centre

On October 15 and 28, the university and Faculty Association (FA) met to resume negotiations toward a renewal collective agreement. During these meetings, it became clear to the university that its comprehensive proposal shared on September 12 was not acceptable to the FA.

The university has sought sustainable ways to enhance faculty compensation despite Ontario’s challenging post-secondary climate. Its proposal includes competitive annual wage increases and the opportunity to transition to a defined-benefit pension plan. Together, these changes represent an increase of more than 15 per cent in the university’s annual faculty salary budget.

Not only has the FA rejected the terms and conditions of the university’s latest proposal, but this week’s exchange was used by the FA to present a new proposal that increases monetary demands beyond its August submission.

The university has insisted and continues to encourage the FA to present its September 12 proposal to faculty members, along with the conditions articulated to achieve a long-term deal. Keeping faculty members in the dark for over six weeks with a historic agreement tabled is unacceptable. The university remains confident that a fair, long-term agreement can be reached with the FA, as has recently occurred with Ontario Tech’s other unionized groups.

Planned temporary overnight power outages will occur in the Science Building, Business and Information Technology (BIT) Building, Energy Research Centre (ERC) and Campus Library (LIB) over four consecutive nights between Tuesday, October 28 and the early hours of Saturday, November 1. A different building or building area will be affected each night; see outage schedule below. The outages will accommodate the installation of water heating equipment for each building.

Note: Anything connected to red emergency-power receptacles will not be affected during this outage.

Outage schedule:

• ERC – Tuesday, October 28 at 11 p.m. to Wednesday, October 29 at 4 a.m.
• BIT – Wednesday, October 29 at 11 p.m. to Thursday, October 30 at 5:30 a.m.
• LIB and SCI east tower – Thursday, October 30 at 11 p.m. to Friday, October 31 at 5:30 a.m.
• SCI west tower – Friday, October 31 at 11 p.m. to Saturday, November 1 at 5:30 a.m.

Normal power operations will be maintained daily between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Faculty and staff should plan their work and make provisions for this outage. If you have a project or research underway that the power outage would negatively affect, and for which no alternative plan is possible, contact Ken Bright, Director, Office of Campus Infrastructure and Sustainability, to determine whether backup power can be arranged.

A message from Durham College (DC):

A tentative agreement for full-time support staff has been reached between the College Employer Council (CEC) and the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union (OPSEU).

With this agreement (subject to union ratification), picketing has ended and all employees will return to work on Thursday, October 16.

Thank you for your patience during this time. As DC returns to regular operations after the work stoppage, everyone is encouraged to remain respectful and supportive of one another to move forward.

The university and Faculty Association have agreed to formally resume discussions on Wednesday, October 15. We are hopeful that the considerable progress made to date, and the prospect for foundational changes to compensation and pension elements for faculty members included in the university’s comprehensive proposal, will contribute to reaching a renewal agreement in short order.