NSCAD Bargaining Updates

Upcoming Bargaining Dates:

• TBA

Updates

December 5, 2025: Several important items remain as major disagreements between the bargaining committee and the employer. These are issues that we feel are very important, and that we cannot compromise on:

• Job security
• Hiring priority
• Contracting out
• Benefits
• Pay

NSCAD is rejecting our demands or proposing unacceptable compromises on these issues. While there are other items on which I am confident we will reach a fair agreement, the issues listed above constitute the core of our demand for better working conditions at NSCAD.

STRIKE VOTE & RESULTS

Due to the status of our bargaining, the committee made the decision to call for a strike vote. This means that members will be asked to vote on whether or not they would be willing to go on strike for these issues

I am pleased to report that we had a high participation rate in the strike vote; out of 69 members with contracts this fall, 50 submitted a ballot and participated in the democracy of this union. Again, thank you!

The Results of the Strike Vote are as follows:

• Yes: 45 votes (90%)
• No: 5 votes (10%)

As a result, it is my overwhelming pleasure to announce that we now have a strong strike mandate at NSCAD.

PATH FORWARD

Next week, CUPE 3912 will be filing with the provincial government for Conciliation. This is the process whereby the government mediates between the Union and NSCAD as a last attempt at finding a compromise. The process of conciliation can sometimes take as long as a couple months.

Thanks to this strong strike mandate, however, that process will be influenced by the knowledge that the union can walk away from the table at any time and call a strike. NSCAD will therefore have a strong incentive to make a better offer and avoid labour action.

A longer update on the last bargaining meeting and where the two parties are at as we move into conciliation will be sent out in the coming days.

October 31, 2025: The Bargaining Committee met with NSCAD’s representatives on October 29th, where we discussed a number of items as well as presented our updated counter-offers on several other items. While NSCAD was receptive to some of our proposals, they have rejected others outright.

NSCAD has agreed to our proposals on:

• TA and RA job postings and information
• Onboarding and Hiring packages for all members
  • These items largely deal with the information NSCAD is required to give to new employees, and how the availability of positions are circulated to eligible individuals.

NSCAD has agreed in part or in principle to our proposals on:

• TA and RA Hiring priority
  • We are demanding protection for enrolled graduate students so that they have priority for TA and RA work.
• Anti-discrimination and Harassment
• Academic Freedom
• Intellectual Property and Copyright on course materials
  • There is agreement in principle on these items, but there remains disagreement over specific language and/or implementation.

NSCAD is rejecting our demands on: 

• Contracting-out of RA work
  • NSCAD is demanding that they continue to retain the ability to use volunteers and unpaid or underpaid work-study positions to do RA work. The union finds this unacceptable and rejects it.
• Job Security
• Precedence and Right-of-first-Refusal for ICAs
• Fair and Equitable hiring procedures
  • We are demanding that instructors with experience be given hiring priority, and that current employees be given a guarantee of future work through RofR on the courses they teach. NSCAD is insisting that hiring remain the sole discretion of the employer. This kind of discretionary power means that employees must remain permanently precarious, and systematically discriminates against employees based on their personal relationships with faculty and admin.

April 30, 2025: The bargaining team is currently drafting new proposals to present to the employer by the end of May but otherwise we have prepared several sign-off sheets for agreed-to language on some basic provisions. They have rejected our salary demands and have not come back with a counter offer yet. Right now we’re very much in limbo as both sides are waiting for the other to provide counter offers / proposals. More updates will be shared as the summer continues.

February 2025: We gave our financial proposals to the employer on January 30th, including an increase from $5,780 to $10,000 per 3-credit course for instructors, and an increase from $17/hr to $40/hr for TAs and RAs. We have told the employer that we will not be negotiating financial proposals until we reach agreement on articles like precedence and leaves, which they have primarily responded to by crossing out and offering us nothing. We had to cancel two bargaining sessions in February due to illness, and are waiting for the employer to send us more dates for sessions in March and April.

January 16, 2025: We have been withholding our financial proposals so that we can come to agreement on less controversial articles like seniority as well as medical and family leave. NSCAD has not yet agreed to these non-financial articles that are vital to the health and wellbeing of NSCAD TAs, RAs and ICAs.

NSCAD wants to know what our financial proposal is. We have agreed to give them this on January 30 if they come prepared with responses to our proposals on non-financial issues. Even if they come prepared, we are not going to negotiate with them until they take our non-financial proposals seriously and respond.

December 16: 2024: Fall bargaining with NSCAD has concluded. We have agreed on a number of articles. Bargaining will begin again in January.

As we wrap up the Fall 2024 semester, I am writing to you with a bargaining update about how these past few months of negotiations with the employer have gone.

We have agreed with the employer on a number of articles.

Our strategy has been to delay all monetary negotiations (wage increases, health benefits, etc.) until the end of bargaining so that we can reach agreement sooner on less contentious articles.

The plan is to delay all monetary negotiations until we are in a strike position, as the most effective way of achieving our demands is through a well-planned strike. A potential strike would likely occur in Fall 2025, and would be voted on by the membership in advance.

We will continue bargaining again in January, and we will update you as we continue to make progress.

In the meantime, we have been trying to increase member engagement through online and in-person meetings throughout Fall 2024, and have been working on our social media presence — I’m happy to report that you can now follow CUPE 3912 NSCAD at @cupe3912nscad on Instagram.

October 22. 2024: We just finished our most recent bargaining meeting with NSCAD where they gave us a full response to our proposal. Many of their responses involved crossing out whole articles, but we do not believe that they are bargaining in bad faith, and this is just the beginning.

The bargaining committee will meet tomorrow to go over their response, and we will meet with them next week where we will ask questions, and provide a response to articles we are in agreement about in return.

As of right now, there are no substantial updates, but there will be many opportunities to get directly involved as we move forward.