Further information and updates are available at the
College Employer Council website.
Bargaining Updates
Latest Updates
January 8, 2025
The College Employer Council (who represent the 24 Ontario Public Colleges), and OPSEU CAAT-A bargaining team (who represent full-time and partial-load professors, instructors, librarians, and counsellors) have been in negotiations since July 2024. The parties are commonly referred to as CEC and CAAT-A Bargaining team/ Union.
The parties have mutually agreed that arbitrator Kaplan will further mediate and then arbitrate on proposals that remain unresolved.
This means that there will be NO STRIKE on Thursday January 9 or in the foreseeable future with the full-time and partial load academics.
This is good news for our students as classes will continue to run as scheduled this week and no strike action will occur.
A glossary of terms is available here.
This information is also available on the CEC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, there will be no strike. Classes will run as scheduled.
No, there will be no strike. An arbitrator will make a decision if the parties cannot come to an agreement.
Both parties submit unresolved proposals to a mutually agreed upon arbitrator.
The arbitrator will first try to mediate and have the parties come to a mutual agreement on outstanding proposals. If the parties are unable to reach a conclusion, the arbitrator will step in and issue a ruling.
Arbitration is the process of having an independent person or body officially appointed to settle a dispute on the interpretation, application, administration or alleged violation of the collective agreement.
In Canada, unionized employees have a legal right to negotiate contracts and to strike. A strike is a lawful activity that can take many forms, including modified work schedules (work to rule) that slow down, interrupt or disrupt operations. Strikes can also include rotating job actions where job actions take place at some work sites but not at others. At its most serious, a strike can be a full work stoppage. While strike actions are common in many parts of the world and can take on many forms, previous work stoppages at Northern College have been peaceful in nature.
There are many examples of work-to-rule actions. These include information pickets, non-participation in non-mandatory work, letter-writing campaigns, and buttons or clothing with union messaging. This should have little to no direct impact on your studies.
In the event that the union ever decides to strike, Northern College will work to ensure that all students have the opportunity to complete their term/program.
Northern College classes and operations continue as scheduled. Both the CEC and CAAT-A bargaining teams completed mediation and have agreed to binding arbitration. There will be NO STRIKE on Thursday January 9 or in the foreseeable future with the full-time and partial load academics.
The College Employer Council website contains regular updates on bargaining, including an archive of proposals from both parties.
Additional information regarding the strike process is available here.