The council represented the colleges in negotiations with the Ontario Public Service Employers Union (OPSEU). Apart from that, students did not know much about this body or what it does. Here are some answers to those questions.
Q: Who is the College Employer Council?
A: David Scott, the media relations consultant hired by the Council, said that they act as the chief bargaining agent for Ontario’s 24 public colleges. It negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with unionized staff.
Q: Who runs the council?
A: The CEO of the council is Don Sinclair, who has served as the CEO for more than 10 years. The board of directors of the council is made up of one representative from each college. The representative is either a member of the college’s board of directors or the president of the college.
Q: What does the council do?
A: The council, as mentioned before, is the entity that negotiates collective bargaining agreements with OPSEU on behalf of Ontario’s 24 public colleges. Scott said they’re also responsible for college administration’s benefits and providing human resources services to the colleges.
Q: When was it formed?
A: It took on their current responsibilities and became the College Employer Council as it is known today in 2008 with the introduction of the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act. However, they existed as an entity called the College Compensation and Appointments Council (CCAC) before then.
Q: How were the colleges represented at the bargaining table?
A: Scott said that while the council represented 24 colleges, there could not be 24 individuals representing each college at the bargaining table. There were instead representatives from colleges that represented regions rather than individual colleges. For example, the representative of Cambrian College not only represented the institution, but all the colleges in Ontario’s most northern region at the bargaining table.
Q: Who was at the bargaining table?
A: The College Employer Council bargaining team consisted of nine individuals: five from the colleges, three employees from the council itself and one acting as legal counsel.
The five representatives from the colleges are Sonia Del Missier, the vice president of international applied research and business development at Cambrian College, Stephanie Ball Dean of Durham College, James Boesch, chair of Fleming’s business school, Nancy Fisher, director of labour relations and HR consulting at Centennial College, and Rusty McLay, the chief administrative officer and general counsel of Conestoga College.
The three representatives from the council are Don Sinclair, CEO of the council, Peter McKeracher director, academic for the council, and Christiane Émond, human resources consultant for the council.
Wallace Kenny served as legal counsel to the colleges.
Q: How does it get its money?
A: According to the council’s LinkedIn page, they are a non-profit-statutory corporation. What this means is that the council is a non-profit corporation that was created and is owned by the government. According to their website, they are funded through dues paid by member colleges.
Q: Why has the union called for the council to be disbanded?
A: According to Bob Bolf, president of OPSEU at Humber College, the union sees the council as a very “opaque and unaccountable” organization. Bolf said that the union would like to see a new council put in place with a clear source of accountability.
Q: Can I receive further information about the council through Freedom of Information Requests?
A: No, the council is not an organization listed under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).