The Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) — the union for faculty, librarians, and archivists — is holding a strike vote Aug. 11-14 after more than 40 days of bargaining with the University.
READ MORE: Faculty union highlights priorities ahead of bargaining period
QUFA’s current collective agreement expired June 30. According to an announcement by QUFA, the parties entered conciliation in July with government-appointed conciliator Paul Pooler, but two days of conciliation haven’t produced significant movement despite the union withdrawing a number of proposals.
The strike vote follows several months of negotiations between QUFA and the University, with the union claiming negotiations have made little progress toward a new collective agreement. In July, the two parties jointly applied for conciliation through Ontario’s Ministry of Labour while negotiations continued.
READ MORE: Faculty association pushes compensation, workload reforms in bargaining
“It would be a shame to see [the bargaining period] end with the first ever faculty strike at Queen’s, but it looks like we need to prepare for that this time around,” Karen Rudie, QUFA president, said in the announcement.
A strike vote does not automatically mean faculty members will strike. Instead, it asks QUFA members whether they authorize the bargaining team to call a strike if negotiations fail to make a new collective agreement. The announcement said that a successful strike vote would strengthen the bargaining team’s position while negotiations continue.
According to QUFA, its bargaining team is seeking improvements to collegial governance, faculty workload, and job security and pay equity for precarious members. The association alleges the University has rejected or not engaged with many of those proposals despite more than 40 bargaining days since negotiations began May 11.
“Bargaining continues to be collegial but has largely ceased being collaborative,” Chief Negotiator and Physics Professor Jordan Morelli said in the announcement.
In a statement to The Journal, Queen’s said both conciliation and a strike vote are common parts of the collective bargaining process.
The University said negotiations remain “professional and constructive” and that representatives from both parties continue to work with a conciliation officer.
Queen’s added that it remains committed to reaching a renewed collective agreement through ongoing negotiations but would not comment on bargaining details while talks continue.
“Queen’s University values the important contributions of its people and remains committed to working with QUFA and the Conciliator to reach a fair, renewed collective agreement,” the statement said.
Queen’s also noted that it continues to post public updates through its Labour News website.
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