OCADFA is pleased to announce that we have resolved the outstanding compensation issues from Bill 124, bringing the longest round of negotiations in our history to an end.  

Earlier this month OCADFA’s Bill 124 negotiations team, led by former Negotiations Chair Eric Steenbergen, met with the Administration and the Arbitrator to address the outstanding compensation issues.  Arbitrator Kaplan has issued an award which will see OCADFA members’ base salaries and hourly rates rise by an additional 5.5% over the term of the last collective agreement. With the 3% we received under Bill 124, the current salary and wage rates applicable to members have been increased by 8.5% for the term covered in the last round of negotiations (July 2020-July 2023). You can view the full award here.

In the last round of bargaining we were prohibited from receiving wage increases of more than 1% because of Doug Ford’s Bill 124.  OCADFA joined other unions in Ontario and challenged the bill in the courts and we won. This piece of legislation was consequently ruled unconstitutional by Ontario courts.  Fortuitously for us, we anticipated the legal dismissal of Bill 124 and had strong language in our arbitration decision for the last round that established the need to re-open our salary scales in the eventuality that Bill 124 was struck down.

The Arbitrator’s award matches or exceeds some settlements in our sector that have followed the striking down of Bill 124.

The 5.5% additional increase in the Arbitrator’s award is phased in over the last two academic years as follows:

July 1^st 2021              1.00% 

January 1^st 2022          1.00% 

July 1^st 2022               1.75% 

June 30^th 2023          1.75% 

We expect to have more information about the timing of retroactive payments that the University will make pursuant to the award. We encourage all members to carefully review the retroactive payments you receive. 

Below are general estimates on the retroactive payment you should expect to receive:

We anticipate that TA’s and RA’s will receive pre-deduction retroactive payments of:

For Undergrad RA’s $0.20, Tutorial leaders $0.27, and Graduate RA’s $0.31 per hour in the Fall of 2021;

For Undergrad RA’s $0.40, Tutorial leaders $0.54, and Graduate RA’s $0.63 per hour in the Winter and spring summer of 2022;

And For Undergrad RA’s $0.75, Tutorial leaders $1.03, and Graduate RA’s $1.19 per hour 

in the 22/23 academic year.

For the coming year rates will increase by:

For Undergrad RA’s $1.11, Tutorial leaders $1.52, and Graduate RA’s $1.76 per hour

We anticipate that for a Sessional Faculty member at Ses1, you will receive a pre-deduction retroactive payment of:

$64 per course in the Fall of 2021,

$130 per course in Winter and spring summer of 2022,

$247 per course in the 22/23 academic year,

And for the coming year the Ses1 rate will increase by $441.

For salaried members, Tenure/tenure track, Technicians, Teaching Stream, Continuing and CLTA, the wages are more varied so it’s difficult to give as much detail. For a faculty member making $100,000 the pre-deduction retroactive payment would be $3,900. 

These are only general estimates.  If you have specific questions about your retroactive payments, please reach out to us.

The Arbitrator’s award comes into force immediately and does not require ratification by either the University or OCADFA members, pursuant to the Labour Relations Act. 

Eric Steenbergen 

Past-negotiations Chair