More than 830 Carleton contract professors, librarians and contract instructors voted in favour of a strike mandate, with 88.5 per cent in favour Oct. 5.

According to a bargaining bulletin from Carleton University’s Academic Staff Association (CUASA), the employer set out controversial conditions regarding intellectual property and rights, and refused to table significant changes to tenure and promotion.

The faculty union has been without a contract since April.

Johannes Wolfart, president of CUASA, noted that despite previous strike mandates, they are the oldest unionized faculty in Ontario and have never gone on strike.

Wolfart said students should not worry about the remainder of the year if a strike happens since it’s “custom to pass a motion for academic amnesty, which means students are not penalized for missing classes.”

CUASA has voted for a strike mandate in an effort to “empower [their] team at the table,” Wolfart said.

They have filed for conciliation and, 17 days after the Minister of Labour writes to the employer, they are legally allowed to go on strike.

Jason MacDonald, director of Carleton’s department of university communications, said Carleton’s commitment is to achieve a negotiation agreement, and that a strike vote is “one of the tools that the bargaining unit will use at the table.”

When asked how she felt about a potential strike, Sarah Westerhoff, a Carleton first-year biochemistry student, said it is unfair to use students as leverage for staff to achieve what they want.

Though a strike would inconvenience students, the vote has a significant purpose, as outlined in a 44-page proposal named “Tenure and Promotion at Carleton: Time for Change.”

The current proposal aims to “combine tenure and promotion to Associate Professors” as well as “extend the time of tenure-track appointment to six years, [and] provide annual reports and assessments.”

It proposes clear definitions of criteria for tenure, development of guidelines for each department, and establishing a panel of experts for appeals concerning research and teaching. It notes “Carleton’s current tenure and promotion process is out-of-line with accepted standards and practice in Canadian universities.”

CUASA continues to negotiate tenure and promotion processes with the administration.

When asked about the possibility of a strike Wolfart said, “Certain things like academic freedom are non-negotiable. From a faculty point of view, it is extremely unpleasant because we lose our salaries. Nobody wants a strike.”