NEGOTIATIONS
IN A NUTSHELL: THE VIEW FROM ST. THOMAS
At this round of negotiations, the objective of
the Faculty Association (FAUST) was to achieve new part-time and full-time
collective agreements that address faculty concerns and foster an environment
wherein the faculty can achieve its potential in terms of teaching, scholarship
and service. Of the many issues that the FAUST brought to the table, the one
issue that will resonate with our colleagues at Acadia, and at other
universities regionally and nationally is workload. St. Thomas has seen a
dramatic increase in student enrolment over the past 10 years and this has not
been accompanied by a corresponding increase in new faculty positions. In this
same period of time, St. Thomas has also seen considerable turnover in its
faculty complement. Approximately one-third of our faculty reached retirement
age or took the early retirement package. Many new faculty hired to fill the
openings created by retirement came to St. Thomas expecting to find a
university that recognizes research as integral to our professional and
teaching responsibilities, while faculty at the mid-point in their careers found
it difficult to maintain any balance in their workload that would allow the
time necessary for ongoing research.
Eighteen months after negotiations began in
November 2003—probably the longest negotiations since FAUST’s
certification in 1976—our negotiating team arrived at tentative agreements for
the part-time and full-time bargaining units. We had reached an impasse just
prior to the Christmas holidays and, after the conciliator filed his report on
December 16, 2004, we were in a strike or lockout position at the beginning of
the winter term. Without consulting or notifying the Faculty Association, the
Employer filed for mediation in early January. Then, in the space of six
intensive days of mediation in mid to late January we reached a settlement with
the Employer.
What turned things around? The answer will come
as no surprise to members of AUFA—the strike vote the FAUST held on January 14
and 17, the first strike vote in the Faculty Association’s history. With a 95%
participation rate, the strike vote made it impossible for the Employer to
continue to argue that they knew best what was important to faculty at St.
Thomas and that their November 2004 offer was “good enough.” The strike vote
reaffirmed in no uncertain terms FAUST’s mandate and
made it possible for our negotiating team to achieve better working conditions
for our full-time and part-time members. With the strike vote, we came out of
these negotiations a stronger faculty association.
The
FAUST is grateful to the CAUT and their staff—Jim Turk, Neil Tudiver, Dave Robinson, Vicky Smallman, and Rosemary
Morgan—for the support they provided during negotiations, and to the CAUT
Defence Fund and member associations. On a personal note, I also want to thank
the Past President of AUFA, Janice Best, for the encouragement she gave and her
generous offers of assistance.
Jeannette Gaudet
President, FAUST