In what is an unprecedented situation, hundreds of part-time staff at two Halifax universities marched the picket lines, Thursday.
Negotiations fell through between Saint Mary’s University and CUPE 3912, Wednesday, as members fight for better wages and job security.
They are alongside part-time staff at the Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) who also had a deal fall through, Tuesday.
It’s the first time either university has had part-time staff walk off the job, let alone at the same time.
President Lauren MacKenzie tells our newsroom despite the situation; she is still optimistic.
“We’re feeling empowered, we’re feeling stressed and we’re feeling a lot of solidarity,” says MacKenzie. “We’ve really been ignited here because our members cannot carry on doing their work in the conditions that the employer is imposing on them.”
Part-time Spanish instructor at SMU Photo: Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting
Erica Fisher is a part-time Spanish teacher at Saint Mary’s who was on the picket line Thursday morning.
She tells us there is a lot of anxiety not knowing when your next contract will be.
“Most of us don’t have a contract for the winter term, so you don’t know,” says Fisher. “How can you plan your life to pay your rent, to buy your food, to pay for everything if you are also teaching but at the same time looking and applying for jobs every four months.”
English Instructor at MSVU, Steve Cloutier Photo: Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting
Down the road from Saint Mary’s, part-time instructors at MSVU are marching the picket lines along the Bedford Highway.
Steve Cloutier has been teaching at MSVU for 15 years and echoes Fisher’s sentiments.
“Every year, forever, I have to reapply for every semester,” says Cloutier. “It sucks. I can’t plan for the future. I’m never going to buy a house. I can’t afford a house because I can’t guarantee I’ll be working next year.”
He says, he only knows about a job four to eight months in advance.
Picketers at MSVU Photo: Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting
Part-time instructors from The Mount walked off the job, Wednesday.
CUPE said, like part-time faculty at MSVU, the key issues are job security and compensation and are among the lowest paid university instructors across the country.
“They have no health benefits, no pension, no job security, and no pathway to permanent employment,” said the union.
McKenzie says they will continue to appeal to the employer to come back to the table for a fair deal.
The union had been in talks with Saint Mary’s, The Mount and Dalhousie this week, but only reached a tentative agreement with Dal on Monday.
The deal with Dal, the union said, was “fair” and “will set us up to continue to make progressive gains in future rounds of bargaining.”
