Dalhousie University's faculty association has filed for a conciliator to help in contract talks with the school's board of governors.
The current collective agreement expired on June 30. Since July, the sides have met seven times but have not yet been able to reach a deal.
DFA president David Westwood said the two sides are far apart, primarily on economic and monetary issues.
“The wage offer that's been made calls for three years of zero per cent increases, so no inflation adjustments, and they're demanding changes to our pension plan, reducing benefits, saving money on their part,” Westwood said on Tuesday. “And these are long-standing issues that they know that DFA cannot recommend to our members to accept.”
He said the context of the proposals stems from a June projection of a 29 per cent drop in student enrolments, after the winter term was curtailed and classes moved online due to COVID-19.
“That was the board's best estimate at the time, and since that time, that's completely reversed,” Westwood said. “We're up … 3.4 per cent, to be precise, in enrolments, year-over-year, and, of course, they've raised tuition rates, so this idea that there are fiscal deficits at Dal are just completely been undermined by the data, yet they haven't really appreciatively changed their bargaining package since that time.
“So our members are extremely frustrated, confused and meanwhile working incredibly hard to get this online teaching world up and running so the students can have a good experience.”
He said the last offer tabled on Friday showed the board was “not prepared to back down on any of their demands.
“We're hopeful a conciliator can help bring us a little bit closer. I'm not sure if that's likely, but we're prepared to give it a best shot.”
Dalhousie spokeswoman Janet Bryson said in an email that as enrolment and financial picture becomes more clear, the board of governors is committed to “revising and adjusting these proposals accordingly.”
“We have advised both DFA and the NSGEU locals that we will no longer be seeking wage rollbacks,” she said. “However, DFA has advised us that they will be seeking the assistance of a conciliator through the Department of Labour. We had hoped for the opportunity to discuss our revised proposals with DFA, however we welcome the assistance of the conciliator and we are confident that we can reach agreement with our unions on the matters that remain at issue.”
Bryson added that the university's defined-benefit pension plan is shared by all employees, unionized and non-unionized, faculty, researchers, staff and administration.
“It is important to discuss the ongoing stability and viability of our pension plan with all members,” she wrote. “Our unwavering commitment is to ensure a strong defined-benefit pension plan for all our employees now and for the future.”
The faculty association represents more than 950 professors, instructors, librarians and professional counsellors at Dalhousie.
Westwood said it may take two to three weeks to identify a conciliator and start scheduling sessions.
