More than 1,000 faculty members at the largest university in Nova Scotia could be locked out or in legal strike position by next week.
The Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) says Dalhousie University walked away from the table during negotiations and are threatening a lock-out, which could happen as early as August 12.
Dave Westwood, Kinesiology professor and President of the DFA tells us if that happens, it would be unprecedented for a U15 institution like Dalhousie, that leads research and innovation.
“No other U15 institution in Canada will have ever locked out their academic staff. So, it is quite a unique and significant occasion we are starting at,” says Westwood.
The lock-out could initiate a strike that would not only affect professors, instructors, professional counselors and librarians, but disrupt the fall semester for tens of thousands of students, who are set to start classes in a few short weeks.
Key issues
One of the main issues is wages.
Westwood says members are about nine per cent behind the cost of living after their last three collective agreements.
“The numbers that we put forward in bargaining were very reasonable and simply based on catching our members up to where they’ve lost pace with inflation over the last 10 years,” says Westwood.
In addition to that, is the 90/10 rule – 90 per cent of professors at Dalhousie have to be DFA members, where the other 10 percent can be employed on a contract basis.
Westwood says, while the Board claims that is not financially sustainable, DFA says they will not budge.
“We’ve communicated very clearly we will never, ever, change that rule because we are at the highwater mark in Canada for protecting the quality of academic work,” says Westwood.
He believes this rule, is the main reason the Board is threatening a lockout.
Negotiations
The collective agreement between the two sides expired, June 30.
They are now on a 14-day countdown to a potential lock-out but are scheduled to come back to the table August 11.
Westwood says he is not optimistic they will come to a resolution, as the Board has been very “aggressive” with communication.
“We’re not being unreasonable, so we are prepared for a labour disruption if they want to throw it at us. We hope it doesn’t come to that. But I’d say the odds are it’s looking that way.”
Our newsroom has reached out to Dalhousie for comment.
