29 January 2024
MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY FACULTY ASSOCIATION PREPARING TO STRIKE
KJIPUKTUK/HALIFAX – The Mount Saint Vincent University Faculty Association (MSVUFA) is preparing for a strike and will be in a strike position as of February 10, 2024.
The President of MSVUFA, Dr. Susan Brigham, says, “The collective bargaining process has been frustrating and disappointing as the Board of Governors has been dragging its feet. The Board did not come to the table in the summer, choosing instead to wait months after the Collective Agreement expired and then refusing to table its financial package until conciliation in January”.
The Collective Agreement expired in June of last year. “The stall tactics have made it impossible to make meaningful progress towards concluding a fair and reasonable Agreement in a timely manner. Our optimism for reaching a deal is fading,” Brigham says.
MSVUFA represents nearly 160 full-time faculty, librarian, and lab instructor employees. MSVUFA took a strike vote in December with 97% of its members voting in favour of a strike. “As of January 25, MSVUFA and the employer have been unable to reach an agreement through conciliation. We are now preparing for a strike, which can begin on February 10th after the required ‘cooling off period’,” says Lead Negotiator Dr. Geneviève Boulet.
The 35-year-old Collective Agreement requires an overhaul, and both parties agreed in the spring of 2021 to work collaboratively in preparing joint recommendations for concrete actions that focus on decolonizing and on equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) to improve the Agreement in this round of negotiations. Unfortunately, in addition to delaying the tabling of its financial proposals, the Board of Governors has, for the most part, ignored these joint recommendations, not including them in its proposals and, thus far, not demonstrating amenability to the ones the MSVUFA has included.
The MSVUFA is seeking a fair and equitable settlement to ensure parity with other Nova Scotian and regional universities and to advance decolonizing and EDIA efforts. At an institution that promotes itself as a champion for social justice, “challenging the status quo since 1873”, it is even more disappointing that the Board is failing to enact its values, encompassed by its core mission, within its own community, specifically full-time faculty, librarian, and lab instructor employees.
“We are well aware of the implications a strike will have on students, faculty, and the reputation of the institution, but if we cannot ratify a new Collective Agreement, job action is the next step, and we are getting ready,” says Brigham.
Contact person:
Dr. Jeff MacLeod (he/him), MSVUFA Spokesperson
Professor/Chair
Politics, Economics, and Canadian Studies
902-457-6188 (office)
902-209-9575 (mobile)
[email protected] (Mount Saint Vincent University Email)
[email protected] (Faculty Association Email)