Dalhousie faculty vote in favour of strike mandate as contract talks stall

CITYnews halifax / By Mark Hodgins

Faculty at Dalhousie University say they’re ready to strike if a new collective agreement can’t be reached with the school.

The Dalhousie Faculty Association says a strike vote conducted over the past two weeks saw 85.5 per cent of its membership take part, with 91 per cent voting in favour of a strike mandate.

President David Westwood says it’s unfortunate this vote was needed, but says it was in response to the decision by the Dalhousie Board of Governors to seek conciliation.

“The need to conduct a strike vote is unfortunate and is only in response to the premature request of the Board to seek conciliation,” says Westwood. “The Board has unnecessarily and irresponsibly escalated the potential for a conflict against the wishes of the DFA. The DFA has maintained that the parties should be at the bargaining table, working towards an agreement.”

According to the association, the current agreement expired on June 30. Negotiations on a new contract started in May, with four meetings happening before the board filed for conciliation.

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The DFA says it’s routine to take a vote of membership ahead of conciliation to signal the views of members on current offers by the employer.

Sticking points in negotiations include wages, protecting full-time jobs, and expanding access to childcare, per the union.

Conciliation is scheduled to begin later this month.