More than 16,000 part-time and sessional faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges have officially unionized with OPSEU/SEFPO, concluding a multi-decade legal and organizing campaign that reshapes the province’s post-secondary labour landscape, according to the union.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board confirmed the vote result on April 11 after unsealing contested ballots dating back to 2017. Of those who cast ballots, 88 per cent voted in favour of unionization.
The outcome marks one of the largest union drives in Canadian history and means all academic faculty across Ontario’s college system are now unionized under a single banner.
“This is historic – after today, Ontario’s college system becomes wall-to-wall union,” said JP Hornick, president of OPSEU/SEFPO.
Decades of legal barriers
Until 2008, part-time faculty in the college system were barred from unionizing under the Colleges Collective Bargaining Act. The legal restriction was overturned following a 2007 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that affirmed collective bargaining as a constitutional right.
The vote itself took place in 2017, but the process remained stalled for years as the union fought to have disputed ballots counted. That changed in August 2024, when the OLRB notified the union that the contested ballot boxes would finally be opened, with the count scheduled for April 11 and 17. It concluded earlier than expected with a victory for the union.
Hornick said the employer made attempts to “run interference” to delay or prevent certification. “We represent over 45,000 college workers. 16,000 more joining them – well, that’s a hell of a lot more and a force to be reckoned with,” Hornick said.
Precarity and priorities
According to Pearline Lung, chair of the union’s faculty division, a majority of faculty at Ontario colleges—about 71 per cent—work in precarious roles without job security or access to benefits.
“This moment paves the road not just to better working conditions, but also an expanded ability to fight growing precarity system-wide,” Lung said.
She criticized the provincial government’s funding approach to post-secondary education, noting a shift toward reliance on international tuition fees and deregulated revenue streams, while working conditions for faculty worsened.
“Colleges raked in record surpluses for years. How much did students, or workers, see of that?” Lung said.
Recent figures reported by Global News show the five highest-paid college presidents in Ontario earned an average of $492,000 in 2024. Conestoga College’s president, John Tibbits, received more than $636,000.
Next steps
Hornick said the win positions the union to push for systemic change and better outcomes in upcoming contract negotiations.
“We’re coming for our fair share, and we’re coming for a better college system,” said Hornick. “In terms of building power, today is a game-changer.”
