Carleton University avoided a potential strike March 10 when teaching assistants and contract instructors represented by CUPE 4600 reached a tentative settlement at about 1:30 a.m. Some students at other Canadian universities have not been as lucky in recent years.
York University
CUPE Local 3903, the union representing approximately 950 contract faculty, 1,850 teaching assistants, and 550 graduate assistants went on strike at York University in November 2008, according to York spokesperson Janice Walls. The union and the university had been involved in unsuccessful negotiations for several months over issues such as wages, benefits, and job security, Walls said.
She called the situation “distressing” for students, particularly those in their final year of study.
The strike lasted for 12 weeks during which all academic activities were suspended. It was one of the longest faculty strikes in Canadian university history. It resulted in the cancellation of reading week, compressed examination schedules, and reduced fall and winter terms of 11 weeks each.
Classes resumed on Feb. 2, 2009 after the Ontario government passed back-to-work legislation. A settlement was reached and ratified in April 2009 with the help of a government-appointed mediator.
University of New Brunswick
The January 2014 strike at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) was caused by a conflict over pay and working conditions.
Miriam Jones, president of the Association of University of New Brunswick Teachers (AUNBT) said union members felt that in order to remain competitive, “salaries, workload, and working conditions need to be comparable to the average of a mutually-agreed-upon group of comparable universities,” meaning other mid-sized Canadian schools.
The strike action taken by all full-time academic staff, including professors, librarians, and nurse clinicians, started Jan. 13, 2014. The following day, UNB administration implemented a lockout, cancelling all on-site classes for three weeks.
Though the strike ended Jan. 31, the semester’s scheduling was altered. March break was cancelled, classes were extended, and the exam period was shortened. AUNBT and university administration resolved the conflict through mediation efforts, and binding arbitration has been scheduled for remaining issues.
Mount Allison University
Faculty at Mount Allison University went on strike Jan. 27. Melissa O’Rourke, president of the university’s student union, said full and part-time faculty and librarians staged the three-week strike.
They had been involved in ongoing, unsuccessful negotiations with the university over salary, student evaluations of teachers, and the processes surrounding sabbatical leave and tenure review, among other concerns.
O’Rourke said the strike’s impact was felt by all students as all credit classes were cancelled, though most services and facilities outside of the classroom remained operational.
While the semester is expected to end on the same date, an alternative academic schedule was provided, the exam period was shortened, and deadlines to change or withdraw from courses were extended.
A mediator helped resolve the conflict, and remaining issues will be subject to binding arbitration.
St. Francis Xavier University
All classes at St. Francis Xavier University were cancelled Jan. 28, 2013 when faculty members took to the picket lines. Lasting three weeks, the strike revolved around fair treatment of contract academic staff, changes to health and retirement benefits, salary changes to reflect inflation, and other matters such as professional development, according to Peter McInnis, president of the St. Francis Xavier University Association of University Teachers.
After the association modified its appeals, administration at the university granted members their key requests, but relations between the two parties “remain strained.”
McInnis said many people “especially active in instigating the strike, have left the university or are about to do so,” including the president, the chair of the board of governors and two vice-presidents.
There were few major changes in scheduling required as a result of the strike, with no disruption to the standard reading week or the graduation of students. An extra week was added to the semester, and courses had to be somewhat compressed.
Vancouver Island University
For 32 days in the spring of 2011, classes at Vancouver Island University (VIU) were cancelled due to a strike by the school’s faculty association. Faculty assumed a strike position March 9 over issues surrounding compensation and governance, according to the VIU spokesperson Janina Stajic.
Once the university successfully negotiated an agreement with faculty and classes resumed, the semester was extended until the end of what would have been the normal exam period. All final examinations were held within the extended period of instruction, in the form of in-class, take home, or online exams.
Full refunds were also offered to students who wanted to withdraw from a course at the end of the strike. Stajic said relations between VIU and faculty have improved significantly since the strike, but the incident had a negative impact on student recruitment and retention the following year.
