As of 12:01 a.m., Members of the Full-Time Academic Staff Bargaining Unit of NUFA are officially and legally on strike.
Members in the bargaining unit shall withdraw their labour from Nipissing University until such time as a renewal agreement has been reached and a back-to-work protocol has been agreed upon.
After many hours of negotiations, the Collective Bargaining Committee stated in a press release that it has been unable to come to an agreement with the Employer by the strike deadline.
“We are still very far apart on a number of key issues,” the Committee stated in the release about the 173 members who will hit the picket line Monday morning.
The main sticking points in reaching an agreement include issues related to meaningful participation in governance, maintaining faculty complement, and fair financial compensation.
“Our members gave us an overwhelmingly clear mandate that they wanted an agreement that gives our Members a fair say and fair pay. The Employer refuses to hear that message,” said NUFA president Susan Srigley.
“We very much want to be doing our jobs and be in the classroom with our students, which is what we love to do, so we are hoping to reach a fair settlement this weekend,” Srigley noted prior to the weekend negotiations.
In a Nipissing University release it stated that all classes on Nipissing’s campus, including those taught by part-time faculty, will be suspended. The Brantford and Muskoka campuses will be closed.
Nipissing has set up a website to answer questions and provide information for students. The site is: http://www.nipissingu.ca/updates
“We feel that our offer is fair, and we are disappointed that the faculty has chosen to reject it. As a public sector employer, dependent on government grants and tuition for revenue, the university must demonstrate fiscal responsibility,” said Dr. Mike DeGagné, Nipissing University President and Vice-Chancellor in a release.
“The university remains committed to reaching an agreement with our faculty that is fair and reasonable. We hope that our students will be back in class very soon.”
