Nearly 3,000 teaching assistants, contract instructors and other education workers at Carleton University will strike Monday, according to CUPE 4600 president Noreen Anne Cauley-Le Fevre.
The union and the university have been in bargaining for months and have agreed on various items, but are still at odds on salary, intellectual property rights for contract instructors and set TA-student ratios, according to the union.
“We are disappointed that despite our best efforts we have been unable to reach tentative agreements for our valued employees,” the university said in an announcement.
The university’s latest salary offer included a retroactive market-rate adjustment of five per cent and increases of 8.5 per cent over the life of the agreement for contract instructors.
For teaching assistants, the university offered a retroactive market-rate adjustment of three per cent, with increases of six per cent over the life of the agreement, including an additional four per cent for undergraduate TAs.
Members of the union had overwhelmingly rejected a similar offer on Friday.
“Our members sent a strong message with their strike vote, and resoundingly rejected Carleton’s inadequate offer on Friday,” Cauley-Le Fevre said in a press release Monday morning. “The university clearly did not take that message to heart and has left us with no option but to take strike action.”
The university will remain open aside from affected classes, but bus service will not run to campus. OC Transpo has provided information on detours for routes 2, 7, 10 and 111.
Almost 30 per cent of classes will be completely canceled, with many more affected. The exam period begins in just over two weeks on April 15.
“We remain hopeful the university [will] move quickly to end the strike by finally addressing our concerns, but to date we have seen little movement from management on key issues,” Cauley-Le Fevre said.
Featured image by L. Manuel Baechlin.
