Dalhousie salaries have fallen 9% behind inflation: Faculty Association says

CITYnews halifax / By Shelli Summers

The Dalhousie Faculty Association (DFA) says its members are struggling to afford to remain in their jobs and are asking for fair cost-of-living adjustments and essential support.

DFA president Dave Westwood made the comments in a release on Monday after the university locked out faculty last week.

According to the university’s 2024-25 financial report, Dalhousie salaries have fallen 9 per cent behind inflation, leaving them below the U15 average.

The DFA said assistant professors alone earn about $7,000 less than the national median, adding that some take second jobs or consider leaving the university altogether.

Westwood said what is needed is renewed provincial investment in post-secondary education.

Members of the DFA voted 83 per cent against the offer from the university’s board of governors. This came after the university locked out about 1,000 professors, librarians and other teaching staff less than two weeks before the start of the fall term.

According to a Statistics Canada report posted in November 2024, the median pay for full-time teaching staff across universities a part of U15 was $151,700, up 3.9 per cent from the previous academic year.

“For example, associate professors at a non-U15 Canada member university earned 89.3% ($139,875) of the median salary of associate professors at a U15 Canada member university ($156,550),” it reads.