CBU Faculty Unites; May go on Strike

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“ A major goal for CBUFA is to safe-guard the working environment of our members, promote equity and fairness and to be a resource to address questions and concerns for our members” – President CBUFA

CBUFA at Cape Breton University represents its members which includes faculty, lab instructors, librarians, archivists, nursing practice educators, writing centre advisers, and research chairs.

This year the faculty association put forward the demand for competent wages while the employment contract between CBUFA and CBU is being renewed.

In an interview with Caper Times, CBUFA President, Calvin Howley said that the association feels that the offer of a 1.5% increase in wages put forward by the employer undermines the increase in work load brought by 67% increase in enrolment in the last two years. Even in 2016, despite the declining enrolment, with the number of students around 3000 , the triennial contract between CBUFA and CBU was signed at a 1.25 % increase in annual wages.

For this term, members of the association felt that their concern was not the increase in enrolment, but the lack of a proactive approach by the university to crisis management, which in turn puts pressure on the faculty as a whole.

Since the negotiation process, which has been going on since July this year, did not bring about a consensus between the two parties, last week, a strike vote was carried out in which, according to Calvin Howley, “majority of CBUFA members voted in favour of empowering the executive to call a strike if needed”.

Usually when the contract is about to expire, the association, keeping in mind the current situation, puts forward any concerns they may have. To facilitate the negotiation process, a conciliation meeting has been scheduled for the 13th and 14th of November.

CBUFA may set a strike date, for which they are required to give a 48 hour notice, if an agreement is not reached during the conciliation process.