CBU Faculty Accept Deal That ‘Still Falls Behind’ Cost-Of-Living Increases
Sydney — Striking Cape Breton University faculty members have accepted a contract offer.
The Cape Breton University Faculty Association (CBUFA) says about 84 percent of its members approved the university’s most recent contract offer during a vote early on February 7.
The new, three-year contract includes wage increases of 3.25 percent, 2.9 percent, and 2.75 percent over three years. It also includes one-time bonuses “of varying amounts” in each year.
The university and faculty reached the deal with the help of a provincial conciliator. CBUFA president Adango Miadonye said in a news release the deal wouldn’t have been possible without the outside help.
In a statement released shortly after the CBUFA accepted the new contract, University President David Dingwall thanked both bargaining committees for a “successful” end to the strike.
“This is a time when Cape Breton University is engaging in a number of transformational initiatives. CBUFA members play a pivotal role in many of these initiatives, and in the educational experiences of our students. We are very much looking forward to having our faculty, and our students, back in the classroom,” Dingwall said.
‘We will still fall behind’ on cost of living
CBFUA’s Peter MacIntyre tells Huddle the new contract means better wages for CBU staff but that it’s not everything his members had hoped for.
“People are happy to be going back to the classrooms, and into the lab and libraries. But the deal could have been more straightforward: it could have been done earlier and it certainly could have been reached without a strike,” he said.
More than 200 of the university’s professors, librarians, archivists, lab instructors, nursing practice educators, and research chairs had been on strike since January 27. They walked off the job after months of negotiations led to little progress.
One of the main sticking points in negotiations was wage increases. The CBUFA asked for hefty raises to help its members’ salaries keep pace with the rapidly rising cost of living.
MacIntyre says the new contract brings wages up some but won’t keep salaries in line with inflation.
“The short answer on cost of living is no: we will still fall behind, but not as badly as we would have been if we had accepted the employer’s first offer. It gets us some way there,” he said.
“We had a union meeting yesterday and a lot of people spoke in favor of the deal, but with reservations,” he added.
Many were concerned that the complicated bonus structure will undermine their long-term earning and contract-negotiation potential because those bonuses are one-time only instead of straight salary increases.
CBU says it can’t afford larger increases
During contract negotiations, the union argued the university was running surpluses and increasing pay for its administration while shirking the faculty. It said the university’s offers would leave its members below the increased cost of living.
However, the university consistently said it wasn’t prepared to give the kind of raises the faculty was asking for.
“CBU must be fiscally responsible due to the unique situation in Cape Breton. There are major investments that CBU needs to make in campus infrastructure (new buildings including modern lab and classroom spaces), housing initiatives, strategic health initiatives, and campus planning,” the university said in a statement.
The university also said it planned to invest its surplus “directly in places where students will benefit.”
The Union also says money wasn’t the only issue. Members are concerned that what they claim is a rushed and poorly implemented hiring process could affect the quality of programming the university offers.
It also claims the university administration isn’t respecting its contracts with union members.
“Our administration has disrespected our union at every turn. They’ve stomped on our collective agreement amassing an astonishing 64 labour grievances since the current president took office. By comparison, the University of Saskatchewan—with six times the faculty—posts an average of only seven grievances each year,” the union claimed in a news release.
MacIntyre said his members see the “grievance issues” as “a sign of disrespect.”
“Unfortunately, what we’re seeing time and time again is that if [the administration] wants to do things a different way, they simply do it their own way and say ‘if you don’t like it, grieve it,’” he says.
That means the union must take its complaints all the way up the chain and get lawyers involved, which is a costly and time-consuming process.
“We would prefer if the collective agreement was simply respected from the outset. So, when we talk about the number of grievances being a sign of disrespect, that’s what we’re talking about.”
Student support helped
MacIntyre says he’s disappointed none of those issues were addressed in the latest contract. However, he thanked the students who supported faculty members on the picket line.
“One of the things I’d like people to take away is the strength of the students that we saw on the picket line,” he said. “They had a tremendous impact, I believe, on the course of events because they couldn’t be ignored.”
The university says it will announce “soon” when classes will resume and that it will work with the students’ union “to ensure students are compensated for the time lost during the strike.”
Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].