Dalhousie University Reaches Tentative Deal With Faculty Union
HALIFAX — Dalhousie University and the union representing about 1,000 of its faculty and staff have reached a tentative deal in their ongoing labour dispute.
The university’s board of governors and the Dalhousie Faculty Association reached a tentative agreement on January 8 after calling in a government conciliator to help with negotiations.
Details of the deal have not yet been released and union membership still must vote to officially accept the deal. Until that vote happens, DFA spokesperson Catherine Wall says the union will not speak publicly about the deal.
Contract negotiations between the DFA and Dalhousie Board of Governors had been sputtering along since June of last year.
That month, with contracts set to expire, union members took the first step towards a strike when they voted to approve strike action should negotiations fail.
The strike was avoided in October when the two sides “came to agreement on most issues” with the help of the conciliator.
At the time, both sides agreed to pursue a two-year agreement, rather than a typical three-year agreement, in appreciation of the long-term financial uncertainty posed by the current pandemic.
The two sticking points that weren’t resolved were salary increases and changes to education leave for instructors. Those were put to the conciliation board for review and recommendation.
When the Conciliation Board filed its recommendations in December, Dalhousie accepted the salary recommendations but not its recommendations on education leave, according to an DFA update.
Instead, Dalhousie provided DFA with an alternative proposal, which was discussed in negotiations leading up to last weeks’ tentative agreement.
Wall did not say when DFA members will hold their vote. More information will be available if the agreement is ratified.