uOttawa faculty union gets strike mandate, but won’t hit the picket lines yet

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More than 80 per cent of the members of the University of Ottawa’s faculty union who cast a ballot this week were in favour of a strike.

A strike can’t happen until the first week of February at the earliest because of timelines of the conciliation process. However, in a two-day vote, 80.9 per cent of the 1,026 Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO) members who voted were in favour.

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The union, which represents full-time professors and librarians, has about 1,300 members. It does not represent other academic staff, such as teaching assistants, researchers and sessional lecturers.

“This vote is a signal to the employer that members are prepared to trigger their first strike at this university to secure better working and learning conditions on campus,” said APUO president Dimitri Karmis in a statement. “Receiving this strong strike mandate will help the APUO secure the best agreement for members and the university community.”

APUO said it is seeking a two-year agreement with across-the-board salary increases of 2.81 per cent and 2.84 per cent in each of the years. The union says uOttawa has proposed a three-year agreement with increases of one per cent for 2024-25; 1.25 per cent for 2025-26 and 1.5 per cent for 2026-27.

However, APUO says uOttawa has one of the highest student-to-professor ratios in Ontario and workload is the top issue.

The union, which has been in collective bargaining with the university for more than five months, has never been on strike before and only voted in favour of a strike once before, in 2013.

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The two sides held a full day of mediation on Oct. 17 and began conciliation on Nov. 5. Both parties have agreed to continue conciliation on Jan. 15, 16 and 17, and that neither side will call for a no-board report before Jan. 15.  That means APUO can’t strike and the university can’t impose a lockout during the current school term.

A no-board report is a notice from the Ministry of Labour that a conciliation board will not be appointed after an agreement can’t be reached. It is usually requested only when bargaining has completely broken down.

After a no-board report is issued, the parties must wait 17 days before commencing a legal strike or lockout.

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