Ontario’s colleges narrowly missed a strike after teachers barely accepted the latest contract offer from their employer.

The collective agreement reached between the Ontario Public Service Employee’s Union and the College Compensation and Appointments Council will stay in place for the next three years.

Members of the union voted 51.45 per cent in favour of the new contract. “When you have an acceptance like that, there’s no winner in the process,” Don Ford, communications officer for OPSEU, said.

“We weren’t happy with the offer, but employers put it in writing that if the union rejected the offer they would go on strike. Members didn’t vote in favour of the contract, they voted so they wouldn’t have to go on strike,” he said.

According to Ford, there were a lot of issues not addressed in the contract, thus the union is not satisfied with the agreement reached.

“We will continue working towards addressing all the problems that didn’t get settled during this round of negotiations. None of the problems regarding workload and academic freedom were addressed,” he added.

Ford mentioned workload is the primary concern for faculty members. They want sufficient time to meet with students outside of school hours. A formula was put in place where each faculty member was allotted a certain amount of time to work with students, which was not enough given the number of students they had to work with.

In regards to academic freedom, faculty wanted the ability to modify and adjust courses to meet students’ needs.

“There have been changes introduced that reflect recommendations of the workload task force reports: more assistance for teachers with large classes, more input into evaluation methods by faculty and more opportunities to increase professional development. Faculty members will also have more control over how courses are delivered,” David Scott, spokesperson for the colleges’ bargaining team, said.

Another issue addressed was wage increases.

“The percentage on wage increases of faculty members was actually lower than the percentage for high school teachers,” Ford said. “We would end up having high school teachers earning more money than those working in the college system.”

According to Scott, the final offer on salary is a 5.9 per cent increase over three years, raising the maximum salary to more than $102,000.

Scott characterized the employer’s contract as a fair and reasonable offer. “What the colleges need to do and will do is reassure people who worried about the contract that their worries are unfounded and that it is a good contract,” Scott said. “The contract won’t take away worker’s rights as the union had sometimes portrayed it as.”

“The strike was the last thing students wanted,” said Jabari Cooper, president of the Fanshawe student union. The strike was an ongoing concern for students at the college.

“We are glad the strike is not going to happen and that students can go on with their year,” Cooper said.

“Students in the collaborative program were hoping for a strike so they would get a reading week, but if the strike lasted more than three weeks, that would have been a problem,” said Michelle Brigler, second-year media, theory, and production student in the television broadcasting stream.

“Now we don’t have to worry about [last year’s 12-week strike] situation at York University happening here — that was a possibility,” Brigler said.