The Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA), the union representing about 850 instructors, faculty members, and librarians, will be holding a strike vote on May 16 and May 17.
According to a statement posted on the union’s website on May 7, CUASA council unanimously approved a motion to call a strike vote in an emergency meeting on Friday.
Last week, the union announced they would be preparing for the possibility of a lockout after Carleton administration requested provincial conciliation on May 2 and cancelled the bargaining session scheduled for the next day.
The most recent bargaining session happened on April 20.
A May 2 statement on CUASA’s website called this action a “procedural ambush on the negotiation process.”
Conciliation is when a representative from the Ontario Ministry of Labour steps in to help resolve differences between a union and an employer so they can reach a collective agreement.
A lockout is a temporary work stoppage initiated by an employer, in which workers are denied the ability to work at their place of employment.
In a statement on the Carleton website, Jerry Tomberlin, Carleton interim provost and vice-president (academic), said that the university is “committed to reaching a negotiated settlement with CUASA.”
Conciliation is “a common step in the bargaining process and is helpful to advance negotiations,” the post added.
A May 7 statement from Tomberlin denies any plan for a faculty lockout. The statement added the request for conciliation “was taken to bring this round of bargaining to resolution, not to lock out faculty.”
Carleton “remains committed to resuming talks as soon as possible,” Tomberlin stated.
CUASA said in its May 7 update that while the union hopes to achieve a fair deal for its members without a strike or lockout, they “need to prepare for all possible scenarios.”
The union has been in bargaining with the administration since last August, with CUASA’s previous contract having ended in April 2017.
