Dalhousie Strike Moves Into Day 2
HALIFAX — It’s Day 2 on the picket lines for unionized instructors and teacher assistants at Dalhousie.
The two sides have been working at a deal for the past two years but talks broke off earlier this week over pay.
“A labour dispute is one of the more challenging experiences a university community can go through. It puts strain on nearly every facet of our university — most of all, on our students. In the case of a CUPE strike, it’s important to remember that many of those who are striking are also students themselves,” said Deep Saini, the university’s president and vice-chancellor.
The university is offering pay increases of 17 percent for teacher’s assistants and 30 percent for markers and demonstrators. They revealed the details of their so-called “final offer” on the first day of the strike.
“The past two years of bargaining have included extensive work with a conciliator and one tentative agreement reached that was voted down by CUPE members earlier this year. Unfortunately, despite what we feel has been significant progress made at the table, the two sides have not been able to fully align on the particulars of how to achieve these shared goals. CUPE 3912 members have decided to exercise their legal right to strike action,” said Saini.
The workers are represented by CUPE Local 3912 and include instructors, teachers’ assistants, markers, and demonstrators on campus.
The main sticking point that led to the strike is wages. Dalhousie teachers’ assistants are paid $24 per hour and have not been given a raise since 2019. According to the union, the university pays its members “substantially less than other comparable Canadian research universities (U15)” for comparable work.
In a Youtube video explaining their strike, a union member says the university doesn’t pay enough for him to cover bills.
“All of us are poorly paid and often work other jobs, sometimes as many as three or more, to make ends meet,” he says.
The member adds that he and his colleagues haven’t had a pay raise in three years and are among the worst paid in Canada. Meanwhile, the university’s president, Dr. Deep Sain, gave himself a 13 percent cost-of-living raise last year.
Dalhousie’s proposal
In the interest of transparency, the final offer presented at the table on behalf of Dal’s Board of Governors has been made publicly and is available on its Labour Relations website. The proposal is a three-year contract and would include:
- A 12 percent wage increase to part-time academics;
- An 8 percent wage increase to hourly paid instructors;
- A 17 percent wage increase to Teaching Assistants;
- A 30 percent wage increase to Markers and Demonstrators.
In addition to monetary considerations, there are two other issues raised by CUPE during negotiations.
- CUPE has requested that all TAs receive their offer letter of employment one week prior to the start of classes;
- CUPE has also requested that we eliminate the Marker and Demonstrator roles entirely and classify all CUPE members as Teaching Assistants.
Steve MacArthur is the news director with CKHZ 103.5 in Halifax, a Huddle content partner.