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.
October 21, 2024:
NSCAD University instructors are the lowest-paid contract instructors in the Atlantic region and Canada at large. For example, Mount Allison instructors are paid 7487$ per 3-credit course, while NSCAD instructors are paid 5780$. In comparison to other art universities in the nation, the numbers for NSCAD’s wages are even more abysmal. Concordia pays 10,369$ per 3-credit course while University of Guelph pays 7989$. To reiterate — NSCAD pays 5780$ per 3-credit course while Concordia pays almost DOUBLE this amount! NSCAD instructors deserve equal pay for equal work.
NSCAD TAs and RAs are paid 17$ an hour and haven’t received a pay raise in over 40 years! The living wage is 28.30$/hour in Halifax. University of Guelph TAs make $45/hour and Concordia TAs make 29$/hour for the same work. The math is quite frankly not mathing, especially since Halifax is now one of the most expensive cities in the nation to live in, far exceeding the cost of living in both Guelph and Montreal.
Our members struggle to pay for groceries and rent, and the CUPE 3912 NSCAD bargaining committee is doing everything we can to change that as we continue to bargain with the employer.
CUPE 3912 NSCAD began bargaining on September 11th with the employer. Here’s what’s on the bargaining table for NSCAD Individual Course Appointees, Teaching Assistants and Research Assistants: Substantial wage increases, health benefits, paid sick leave, family responsibility and compassionate care leave, adoption, pregnancy and parental leave, an established precedence system, a childcare allowance, improved process around notification of appointment, improved process around course cancellation including substantial increase to cancellation fee, advanced notice and a generous window of opportunity to boost enrollment, an onboarding package, and a more respectful, safe and healthy workplace environment. Stay tuned for more updates on the bargaining process!
March 18, 2024: The Negotiating Committee was formed.