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Scheduled conciliation dates concluded without agreement
Ryan McNutt - February 16, 2012
Updated February 17, 6:18 p.m. with strike vote result
After a third day of conciliation that lasted more than 13 hours, talks broke off yesterday between the university's negotiating team and the Dalhousie Faculty Association without an agreement.
The Board negotiating team has written to the DFA requesting additional dates to continue collective bargaining, and the conciliator has confirmed he will make himself available if both sides agree.
“We believe significant progress has been made and the expectation is that both parties want an agreement,” said Katherine Sheehan, assistant vice-president, Human Resources. “Getting additional dates scheduled and getting everyone back to the table is a priority for the university.”
The DSU released a statement earlier in the day, urging both sides to continue talks.
"Regardless of the outcome of the vote for a strike mandate, the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) strongly encourages the Board and DFA to continue discussing an agreement that is fair for both parties," wrote DSU President Chris Saulnier. "The students of Dalhousie University expect the Board and DFA to spend more time at the bargaining table, discussing the substantive issues of pension and compensation, before resorting to using the hardship caused to students by a lockout or strike as a negotiating tool."
Strike vote successful, but strike action not imminent
On Friday afternoon, the DFA announced that its members had agreed to a strike mandate, with 83 per cent of the votes cast in favour of a potential strike action.
"I am pleased that the membership gave the executive such a strong strike vote," said DFA President Anthony Stewart in a release. "This should send a message to the Dalhousie Board about the strength of our resolve to get a fair deal."
Even with the result, however, a strike at Dal is not imminent: there is still a two-week “cooling off” period, starting once the conciliator files his report (which has not happened yet), during which time no strike action can take place.
An update on the university's negotiations website explains the progress that was made Wednesday, including resolution of non-monetary issues. The Board's negotiating team tabled its opening proposal on monetary and pension plan changes shortly before lunch. It was followed by the DFA tabling its first and final offer on a Jointly Sponsored Pension Plan (JSPP) at 4 p.m. The DFA walked away from the table at 9:30 p.m. after only five hours were spent on the issue.
“The important conversation on monetary items and pensions just got started,” added Ms. Sheehan. “We need more than one day of discussion on this important topic and need to get back to the table to negotiate an agreement. We are committed to continue talking and will continue to reach out to the DFA.”
Disagreement on offer
The negotiations website update also contains basic information about the opening offer presented at the table, which, according to President Tom Traves' memo, addresses some of the major concerns brought up by faculty about moving to a jointly-sponsored pension plan.
The Board's opening proposal, with regards to pensions, promises to cover any increased pension contributions with a corresponding salary increase for all faculty members; ensures that employees will not pay the cost of any legacy pension deficits; and contains a decision-making structure such that all major decisions require unanimous agreement of the Board and all employee groups – in other words, the unviersity Board will have no independent decision-making power.
In its release, the DFA disagreed with the Board team's assessment of the progress made, saying that it considered conciliation "a failure" because of the gap between the two sides, particularly around the pension issue - the release claimed that the proposal would provide less protection for its members.
The pension plan has been the major issue in the negotiations thus far. The university has been discussing a move to a jointly sponsored governance model, both to make the plan more sustainable and to earn relief from the government to prevent dramatic solvency repayments. The current solvency deficit would require annual payments of $50 million starting in 2013, the impact of which on the university budget would be dramatic.
Commitment to completing the term
In an email to students, Dr. Traves reaffirmed the Dalhousie's commitment to doing everything possible to complete the academic term.
"We know these ongoing discussions cause anxiety for students and parents," he wrote. "We also know how important it is for students to complete their academic term; Dalhousie shares that priority.
"The best way for us to achieve that is for both the university and the DFA to return to the bargaining table and continue the important progress that was made yesterday. No matter what the scenario, though, the university will do everything it can to ensure the term is completed."
Dal.ca/negotiations will continue to be updated with information for students, employees and the entire university community as it becomes available.
Editor's note: The first published version of this story used the term "the university" too widely in describing the process at the table. We've edited it to better reflect the process. Thanks to everyone in the comments for their feedback.
Readers Say
February 16, 2012 7:55 PM
February 16, 2012 8:06 PM
February 16, 2012 8:33 PM
February 16, 2012 8:47 PM
If the discussion of the pension issue was of such high importance to Dalhousie, they should not have delayed until a threat of strike. They should not have left the discussion until 12:00 noon on the final day of negotiations. A strike vote is a last resort, not because the DFA were unhappy with Dalhousie's offer, but because there was no offer made, and an outright refusal by Dalhousie to discuss the issue.
Every professor with whom I've discussed the strike issue with has expressed deep concern, not for themselves, but for their students. Every non-academic administrator I have discussed the issue with seems to truly believe that a strike is impossible. The professors are committed to the students; the ramifications of a strike on the student population is of great concern to them. Dalhousie knows this, and seems to have purposefully placed the DFA into a tricky situation where they are rushed into agreement on the pension issue. If Dalhousie truly wanted "more than one day of discussion on this important topic," they should not have left it to the final day.
February 16, 2012 9:25 PM
*I have one etymological comment on this story and on the President's choice of words for describing the two sides. Because the University is a "community of teachers and scholars" and not just the institution that offers programs and grants degrees, it seems a little misleading to refer to one side in this labour dispute as the "University". When one side is the "DFA" (or another employee group), a less misleading and obviously more appropriate name for the board and its administration, would be the "employer".
These negotiations, which I hope will be resolved without detriment to our scholars and with the long-term interests of the university in mind, are in the sphere of labour relations. So, let's stick with "employer" and "employee group (DFA, etc.)" when referring to the two sides and not confuse things by referring to one side as the "University."
February 17, 2012 9:13 AM
From now on, we're going to be sensitive as to where we use "the university" in our writing. When we're referring to the process at the table, we're going to be using the Board, the university Board, the university negotiating team...terms like that. And we've updated this story accordingly.
Thanks for keeping us on our toes.
February 17, 2012 10:04 AM
The word "Univesity" when used without qualification and printed with an initial upper case letter shall mean Dalhousie University
The word "Member" shall mean a member of the bargaining unit, which is the DFA.
February 17, 2012 10:15 AM
While you'll often see University capitalized in university documents, we generally don't capitalize "university" separate from "Dalhousie" here on Dal News, in line with typical journalistic writing. (You wouldn't see, say, John Smith High School described as "the School" in a newspaper, for example.) As the discussion above shows, though, this can cause some confusion, because while "the university" is an entity and an employer, "the university" also means a broader community for many people. Hopefully, going forward on this issue, sticking with terms like "the Board" or "the bargaining team" or "the university's negotiationing team" will make things crystal clear for our readers.
February 17, 2012 10:27 AM
February 17, 2012 10:41 AM
February 17, 2012 11:50 AM
Thanks to Ryan McNutt for trying to keep all informed in a timely manner.
February 18, 2012 3:45 PM
However I am strongly offended by those emails from either the administration or Tom Travis, since those email are completely bias towards the university with twisted lines and choice of words that you normally only hear from politicians.
February 21, 2012 11:40 AM
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2012/02/16/want-lower-tuition-ask-your-profs-about-97000-pensions/comment-page-1/
February 21, 2012 12:38 PM
The author (Josh Dehaas) simply distorts the facts wildly to suit his purpose.
If he wanted to make the case that Dal Faculty are overpaid he should provide some evidence -- Of course, he cannot do that because Dal faculty are paid well below the "Comparator Group" of universities (agreed upon long ago by the Dal BoG and the DFA)
Unlike some contributors to this discussion, I will not hide my identity ... I was Strike Coordinator for the DFA in 2002 -- now retired and no longer in the DFA, but I hope they will protect my pension too! .
February 22, 2012 9:55 AM
Why is Dal News not covering this more thoroughly?? The University is much more than simply profs, senior management and the Board of Governors. If we were to go on strike, then Student Accounts, Registrar's Office, Payroll, Residences, Online learning systems like BLS etc, and many many other vital areas will be effected. This should be just as concerning to the Dal community - including students - as a potential faculty strike.
Thoughts??
February 22, 2012 10:09 AM
http://www.dal.ca/news/2012/02/22/conciliation-date-with-nsgeu-local-77-ends-without-agreement.html
You certainly expect more information about both negotiations in the coming weeks, both at the negotiations website and from us here at Dal News.
February 22, 2012 10:33 AM
February 22, 2012 11:21 AM
This is certainly true for regular negotiations but since entering conciliation the previous "rules" no longer apply and are dictated by the conciliator. So it is not at all wrong to say that The Board chose not to talk about monetary issues until the last day because that is exactly what they did.
February 23, 2012 3:08 PM
March 3, 2012 1:31 PM
March 5, 2012 12:23 PM
Senior administrators treat our university like a business and value students only insofar as they bring in tuition; they see only the cost incurred by its employees and not the value added by the dedicated professionals who work hard in the best interests of our students.
Students are more than dollar signs; faculty and staff are more than payroll costs.
16,900 students + 870 Faculty and Librarians + 800 staff members want the administration to stop equating us with money and to start treating us with respect.
March 5, 2012 7:00 PM