Niagara College faculty members, including professors, instructors, counsellors and librarians will be voting on a possible strike.
Some 15,000 members of OPSEU/SEFPO from Ontario's public colleges, will be casting their ballots starting Tuesday, October 15th, and continuing until Thursday on whether of not to take job action.
The union says its agreement with the College Employer Council has expired, and there has been an unwillingness to move talks forward, and meaningfully negotiate a new collective agreement.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board is hosting the voting through the Simply Voting platform, an electronic voting system.
The union says faculty is encouraged to vote yes to a strike to fight back against serious concessions proposed by the CEC.
The union says they want to address workload and faculty wages.
"Our wages have fallen behind inflation while administrative positions have ballooned and have continued to see healthy raises each year, even while faculty was held to 1% over the last several years by Bill 124, which has since been repealed due to its anti-labour implications. Our proposals seek to improve classroom conditions and the quality of our students’ feedback and educational experience. The concessions proposed by the CEC are rooted only in bottom-line concerns – profit over people, including faculty and students."