Uncertainty remains as Dalhousie, union fail to reach contract agreement

CBC

3 days ago

Uncertainty remains about the start of the school year at Dalhousie University as the board of governors and the Dalhousie Faculty Association failed to reach a contract agreement during negotiation and conciliation efforts.
The collective agreement for nearly 1,000 professors, instructors, librarians and professional counsellors at Nova Scotia's largest university expired on June 30.
A last-ditch conciliation meeting was held Monday, but failed to see a resolution.
The union will now bring the university's final offer to its membership for a vote. That vote will end on Aug. 21 at the earliest, though the deadline could be extended in order to give members more time to cast a ballot, said Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) president David Westwood.
Either side must give 48 hours of notice before a strike or lockout begins.
Westwood told CBC News in an email Tuesday that the DFA was assured a lockout would not occur this week, and the union says it will not call a strike in August.
Classes are scheduled to begin on Sept. 2.
Compensation key sticking point
The two sides have reached an impasse over several key issues — most notably, compensation.
The board has offered two per cent increases each year for three years, while the most recent union proposal has requested a seven per cent increase in the first year of the agreement and four per cent increases in each of the following two years.
"The final offer is far below what we find acceptable in many ways, not just the fact that the cost of living adjustment is far below recent settlements in our sector," Westwood said in the statement.
In an open letter to the DFA published Monday, university president Kim Brooks said the final offer "tries to balance fair compensation for faculty with our responsibility to ensure Dalhousie's long-term financial health."
The statement says while the board's proposed wage increases are in line with current inflation rates, the university acknowledges they do not reflect the higher inflation rates of previous years.
"We truly wish we could offer more," reads the letter. "Our priority with this offer is to protect core academic activity and minimize further significant layoffs in the years ahead. This is the most we can responsibly commit to at this time."
The university recently passed an operating budget with a $20-million deficit for the coming year and has already told all faculties and units to reduce their budgets by one per cent and absorb any compensation increases.
Proposed teaching rule change withdrawn
Job security was another issue of concern to the faculty association, but the board withdrew a proposal that the union had objected to.
The board wanted to change a clause that governs what percentage of teaching work must be done by DFA members rather than by sessional workers or administrators. Sessional workers are paid less and do not have the job security that DFA members have.
Under the collective agreement that just expired, 90 per cent of teaching work must be done by DFA members, but the board wanted to reduce that to as low as 80 per cent. That proposal is no longer on the table.
"We continue to believe Dalhousie must reimagine academic staffing models to meet changing needs, but it is in our collective best interests to face our current challenges together," reads the letter from Brooks.
Last month, 85 per cent of eligible DFA members participated in a strike vote, with 91 per cent of those who cast a ballot voting in favour of a strike if an agreement is not reached.
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