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The following message was sent to Media Relations and Issues Management, External Affairs, at SMU. Last Friday Media Relations emailed CUPE 3912 member David Campbell (Dept. of History) to inquire about his availability for an interview with CBC. The interview was to be about the Khaki University of Canada, an organization that was designed to educate Canadian service personnel during the First World War. The following was David’s response to that email:

Thank you for contacting me on Friday. I very much regret being unavailable for CBC’s request for an interview, but I was engaged on CUPE 3912’s picket line all day on Friday. Needless to say, I wish I had been able to answer the request for an interview, but I had to stand in solidarity with my fellow part-time faculty members.

This is an unfortunate example of what I imagine are many missed opportunities for SMU to engage with the broader community through the collective experience and expertise of part-time faculty members. Some of us have research areas or specializations in certain subjects that are not fully covered by full-time faculty members in the departments where we work. We could be much greater assets to the university, but we face ongoing marginalization in terms of our employment.

I have been living in Halifax since 2000 and teaching courses at both SMU and Mount Saint Vincent since 2006. It has long been ironic to me that in a community with such a deep and pervasive military and naval heritage that there are no historians on full-time staff who specialize in Canadian military history at any of the universities in town. Over the past nineteen years I have had infrequent opportunities to teach this particular subject through a special topic course focusing primarily on Canada during the era of the two world wars. 

The majority of my time is spent teaching courses that are either somewhat related or not at all related to my specialty. During a typical academic year the closest that I come to such specialization in the classroom is when I teach SMU’s courses on the World at War, 1914-1918 and the World at War, 1939-1945. These courses are two of my favorites in the regular rosters of courses that I cover at SMU and the Mount during each academic year. But the European and broader global focuses of these courses place sharp limits on the attention that I can devote to Canadian experiences. 

In trying to cobble together something of “a living” from teaching as many courses as I can at more than one school throughout each year, it leaves me in more challenging circumstances when it comes to keeping up with the latest developments in what is supposed to be my own specialized field of study. Although over the years I have managed to present papers and to produce publications (including a scholarly monograph), trying to make a living through part-time teaching means that I have had to sacrifice a great deal of my own research and publication ambitions when it comes to Canada’s history during the First World War. There are many part-time colleagues in history and in other departments who could no doubt say the same thing.

This is what makes the university’s determination to continue underpaying and under-supporting contract faculty so disheartening. We have already given away more of our time, talent, and ambition than would be tolerated by any full-time academic, support, or administrative staff. And yet we are expected by the institution to remain satisfied by rates of pay that are among the lowest in the entire country, a complete absence of benefits, and no pathway to any kind of permanent or full-time employment.

I still routinely field questions from relatives and friends as to why I have not yet achieved status as a full-time faculty member after almost twenty years of steady teaching work (usually over twelve months of the year – year in, year out). Most members of the broader community have little to no inkling of how academic employment works or the systemic barriers that routinely impede contract faculty from achieving either permanent part-time status or, better yet for many of us, full-time status. My mystified relatives and friends point to other job environments in which employers are routinely required to consider (or even privilege) part-time or casual employees for any permanent or full-time positions that may arise in those organizations. But this is not the case in academia, where universities often find ways to discount part-timers from consideration for different types of permanent or full-time work. As such, my circles of relatives and friends tend to regard universities as disgraceful exploiters of part-time instructors. This is not a good look for the university among members of the public who are aware of what we face as part-time faculty. The current strike has the potential to inform many more members of the public about the situation.

Protests from university administration that improving our pay and working conditions are too costly and “not in the institution’s best interests” are met by stark economic realities. As CUPE 3912 understands the situation, part-time faculty teach approximately 30 percent of courses at SMU. Yet the stipends that we are paid collectively represent only around 10 percent of the university’s budget. This makes it difficult, if not impossible to believe the administration’s arguments that they cannot bring our pay up to national median standards for contract faculty. We’re not asking to be the best paid in the country; we simply don’t want to be among the worst paid. There is a difference.

Critics in the general population might comment that I and others like me should simply “move elsewhere” to find better employment. Such sentiments are met in my case by commitments to family that keep me tied to Halifax and, more broadly, to Nova Scotia and PEI. To be there for my family I had to give up the prospect of moving elsewhere in the country or the world in order to find full-time academic work. We are not all as free in our choices and options as many might imagine.

If there is no possibility of a tenure track position ever being offered in my area of specialization at SMU, then a lectureship or some form of permanent part-time status might afford me the possibility to add my special topic course on Canada at War to the History Department’s regular roster of courses. This also would give me greater latitude to focus on my own area of specialization so that I might be more ready to take opportunities such as CBC’s request for an interview about the Khaki University during the First World War. I would be better placed to be a “go-to source” for the broader community on questions regarding Canada’s wartime experiences and postwar memory. This would in turn further raise SMU’s profile as a source of expertise for the community.

I suggest that the university would be better served by offering greater supports for our work in teaching and research. An employee that feels more supported and satisfied with their work experience will be a much more effective ambassador for the university and its mission, whether their status is part-time or full-time in nature. Instructors with higher morale will perform even more effectively as teachers in the classroom and as experts available to the media and other members of the general public. Our desires to do the best we can for our students and our communities should not be used against us in efforts to minimize our pay and the quality of our working conditions.

Part-time instructors are a diverse group with varying interests and needs. Although my own experiences and sentiments may be echoed by any number of my colleagues, others will feel differently depending on their own circumstances. Some part-timers have active careers in settings outside of the university, while others are teaching courses following their retirement.  

Despite our different backgrounds, agendas, and outlooks, part-time faculty have a shared determination to achieve better remuneration and working conditions. In that respect, being driven to take strike action has awoken among us a sense that perhaps many are really feeling for the first time – a sense of solidarity with each other. 

Many thanks for taking the time to consider the broader issues raised by what otherwise would have been a straightforward opportunity to liaise with local media. Your time and understanding are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely yours,

David Campbell

Contract Faculty and Adjunct Professor, Department of History

P.S. For additional perspectives and reactions from other part-time faculty members, there are a number of excellent write-ups and responses to the current situation on CUPE 3912’s blog available at: https://cupe3912.ca/category/blog/ 

What I Wish I Could Tell My Students

Being a student can be challenging and demanding at the best of times; during a faculty strike, it can feel downright overwhelming! Fortunately, there is some research on Canadian university students’ experiences with faculty strikes that we can look to for guidance on what to expect and how to cope with the situation. Below, I’ll be using some data from several studies discussed in Wickens and colleagues (2016) paper on strikes in Ontario.

First, it’s normal to feel happy or even grateful at the start of a strike! This doesn’t mean you are a “bad student” or don’t care about your classes. Around 57% of students said that an upcoming strike would be a “good opportunity to catch up on coursework” but after the strike only 12% felt that way. By the end of the strike, around 75% of students said it had “disrupted good study habits” and that they “got lazy” even though before the strike began only a quarter of students thought they would feel that way. It’s definitely normal for your feelings to change over the course of the strike.

It’s also normal to find yourself questioning whether to even bother keeping up with your studies at all. Almost all students assumed it would be worth it to “keep up with studies” before the strike began, but during the strike only slightly more than half felt it was worth it, and after the strike that dropped to only around one-third. It can be really hard to stay motivated when you don’t have regular classes to attend, you aren’t seeing your professor on a regular basis, you aren’t getting announcements or reminders about coursework and/or you aren’t seeing your fellow classmates. This is a challenging experience and however you feel about it, you’re not alone.

Second, it can be really hard to find accurate, reliable and up-to-date information about the strike so it’s important to know where to look. Relying on word of mouth from other students or social media can lead to inaccurate or outdated information, so be mindful of who you listen to and seek out trusted sources of information. Although less than a quarter of students sought out information on the faculty union’s website, the union often has the most accurate and up-to-date information. You can find a lot of great information on CUPE3912.ca and on their social media!

Having accurate information is important, because students who felt like they couldn’t get access to reliable information were more likely to experience negative emotions such as stress, anxiety, and anger and to feel powerless and unmotivated. And those who felt “well-informed” were less likely to experience psychological distress, to see the strike as a chance to catch up on coursework, and to maintain good study habits. So keep yourself informed by using reliable sources of information, like professors on the picket line! We may not be able to teach, but we can certainly talk to you about why we’re on strike and what the status of any bargaining is.

Third, it’s normal to feel like you learned less than you “should have” because of the strike; almost all students felt that way after a strike! Often professors need to cut content from a course because they simply can’t make everything up after weeks on strike and if this happens in your course, it’s okay to feel frustrated. In addition, many students said that the most important part of re-starting classes was having a say in what the rest of the semester would look like. While it is obviously up to individual professors to make decisions about how best to make up for the time that was lost during the strike, many professors may not know just how important it is for students to have a voice in those decisions. You and your classmates could think about how to respectfully approach your professor with a request to have some say in what will work best. 

Around 60% of students who experienced a strike would have appreciated either (a) their professor leading a class discussion and then letting the students vote on how to adjust the syllabus or (b) being able to choose an individualized plan (perhaps from two or three possible options) that worked best for them. Every professor is different and some may not be able to be as flexible as others, but it’s okay to respectfully advocate for yourself – and your classmates – and see where your professor may be willing to be more accommodating to students’ preferences. 

Finally, if at all possible, learn about collective bargaining! Many students who experienced a strike did not know that striking is legal, that negotiations have often been going on for a long time before a strike happens, or that at the time of the strike the faculty do not have a current contract with the university. (A new contract is actually what is being negotiated right now!) You also may not realize what part-time faculty contracts actually include (or don’t include) or what the union is actually asking for (i.e., not just higher wages, but overall better working conditions like getting contracts sooner). You can find bargaining updates here CUPE 3912 website.

I know that this strike is stressful, but with this research hopefully we can all know what to expect and how best to approach the rest of the semester.

Wickens, C. M., Labrish, C., Masoumi, A., Fiksenbaum, L. M., & Greenglass, E. R. (2016). Understanding the student experience of a university labour strike: Identifying strategies to counter negative impact. Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. Retrieved from https://heqco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/HEQCO-Formatted_-CAMH.pdf

At my core, I am a professor. (A psychology professor in fact.) It is one of the most important aspects of my identity, if not the most important. I always knew I wanted to study psychology and there was never any doubt that I would get a PhD. As a graduate student, I was, naturally, aware that it would be challenging to find a full-time job given there were definitely more new PhD graduates than tenure-track positions needing to be filled. I also realized as I finished my degree that while I wanted to be a professor, I did not want to spend many (grueling) years pursuing tenure when I also wanted to have a family. So I decided to teach part-time knowing it would forever close the door to tenure-track teaching and job security. I chose this career path with my eyes open and I deeply love being a professor. But that doesn’t mean I love my working conditions or that I feel I am compensated fairly for my expertise and work. Just because I freely chose to work as a part-time professor, it doesn’t mean that I have to accept poor working conditions or unfair pay. And just because I continue to choose to apply for and teach courses on a contract-by-contract basis, it doesn’t mean that I don’t experience stress or negative impacts as a result of this.

Perhaps your story is similar to mine, and you work part-time so that you can also do “something else”. Maybe your “something else” is a full-time job in the industry you trained for or another part-time job in a different fulfilling occupation. Maybe it’s the ability to provide care for family members or your own mental and/or physical health needs. Perhaps your story is quite different. Maybe you are one of the many part-time professors who pursued a PhD in order to get a tenure track position, only to find it impossible to secure one. Maybe you would happily take a full-time teaching position if it were offered to you. Maybe you are a graduate student unsure of what you want to do after you graduate. However you have found yourself in this profession – and now in this strike – you belong, along with your complex identities and possibly complicated feelings about your work and being on strike.

Being a part-time professor in general can be a challenging identity to navigate both internally and with other people. On the one hand, we are intellectual elites; only around 1% of the Canadian population has a PhD and 8% have a master’s degree. We also have considerable autonomy in much of our work, as we typically (though not always) have almost complete control over course design and class instruction. However, with the exception of those part-time professors who have lucrative industry jobs, for the most part we are not financial elites. In addition, while we have a lot of autonomy once have secured a contract, we have almost no autonomy when it comes to what courses will be offered that we are eligible to teach, whether those courses are offered at times that we can actually teach them, when the job offers are actually posted so that we can apply for courses, whether we are offered any of the courses we apply for, and when we are given a contract to sign once we have accepted an offer.

This clash of identities – intellectual but not financial elite, no autonomy in our careers before a contract is signed but almost complete control once we have a signed contract – can make this job confusing and stressful at the best of times. It can also confuse the public, who may not appreciate just how wide a gulf there is when the adjective in front of “professor” is “part-time” and not “full-time” or who may, frankly, not even see any difference because they have a stereotype associated with “professor” that doesn’t account for different “types”.

But this clash can be even more challenging to navigate as a professor who is also on strike, given that our stereotype of an “elite” rarely also includes “striking union member on the picket lines”. In fact, being on strike really highlights just how nuanced the term “elite” really is. I certainly don’t feel like an “elite” when I’m wearing a placard in the rain on the picket line waving at passing cars but I know most of the students who walk by on their way to other classes certainly see me as more “elite” than they are! And to those outside of academia, I may be perceived as being greedy asking for more money, when “clearly” I have a “cushy, white-collar elite” job that 90% of working age adults wouldn’t even be qualified for.

So to those who have similar conflicting identities or feelings about what it means to be a professor who is also on strike, I say this: You are not alone. It’s okay to feel conflicted – or not – and to have concerns about how you are perceived by the public – or not. (Some of us are less able to ignore what other people might or actually do think of us!) But just because you or I have conflicting feelings about what we do for work or what it means to be on strike, especially because we chose this “elite” career path ourselves, we still deserve to ask for fair pay for our expertise and work. Research shows that financially insecure part-time faculty who want permanent work are “particularly at risk for negative health outcomes,” including higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress (Reevy & Deason, 2014). The same research also found that, counterintuitively, the more we feel attached to and are committed to the university, the more we are likely to experience those same negative health outcomes. I’ve been at SMU for over 15 years and I have colleagues who have been there for 20 or even 30 years; the deep connections we have to the university unfortunately mean we suffer even more as a result of our precarity. (If we weren’t as attached to the university, it wouldn’t “hurt” as much to be treated or paid unfairly!) Even when it sometimes feels complicated for “intellectual elite” and “striking union member” to coexist in my current identity, I know I’m making the right decision every time I show up on the picket line and advocate for myself and for all of you.

I usually tell people that there is no better place to be in the world, during the fall season, than Nova Scotia.  As a part time instructor at SMU for close to 2 decades, I find myself this fall preoccupied and just not noticing the vibrant colors of the season. The strike continues, and to pass the time on the picket line, I pace, and think about the disrupted routines, the precarity of employment, and the strength of the people who surround me.  I am humbled as I support their efforts, which are also my efforts for equity in an increasingly polarized society.  While I walk, I hope our signs of resistance are the catalyst to a much-needed conversation about the future of our institution and the value of the work we do.

From the outset, I want to acknowledge that I personally, like many of my colleagues, don’t want to be on strike. We are deeply committed to our students and their education is at the heart of everything we do. But rising workloads with wages that have failed to keep pace with inflation have made it increasingly difficult to provide the quality of education we know our students deserve.

It’s also become impossible to ignore the reality facing many of us, as precarious workers, who diligently fill in the gaps, often at a moment’s notice to ensure the viability of the university, and its courses.  But these efforts are all too often rewarded with little recognition or adequate compensation. Precarious in that at the end of each semester, when we know the contracts are to be posted, we anxiously wait for that course, the one we know we can teach, and may have seniority in, the one that, if it doesn’t come through, sees us staring down the economically bleak months of another underemployed semester.  This anxiety is tempered in the stress of rising inflation, undervalued contributions, and the weight of that smiling façade that we erect as the students enter the class.   A stress that with each passing semester leaves fissures of frustration that make this not just an academic employment issue, but an issue of human dignity and mental and social well-being.

The strike isn’t just about financial compensation, although that is undeniably a part of the conversation. It’s about ensuring that we as members of the SMU community have the resources human, financial, and physical to continue offering a top-tier education so that we can continue to contribute to vibrancy of the institutions that are, personally, the cornerstones of our academic identities, and, collectively, the benchmarks of creativity, critical discourse, and innovation.  To this end, significant, institutional change is what this strike is ultimately about.

I have to say that in some ways it’s been a pleasure to picket as I am reminded that in unity there is strength. And let’s not forget the incredible work of our organizers.  From my perspective there has been every effort to address any perceived inequity, every opportunity for inclusion is exercised, and I have yet to walk past Erica without getting a warm and disarming smile.

I am also grateful to our students for their ongoing patience and understanding during this time, and I hope, as they do, that we can get a fair deal, and back into the classroom without any further delay.

In Solidarity….

By Rajni Ratti

The ongoing part-time faculty strike at Saint Mary’s University is a moment
of deep reflection for all of us in academia. Universities are not merely
institutions of instruction; they are the nurseries of creativity, innovation, and
leadership; places where future entrepreneurs, policymakers, doctors, and
scientists take root. When such spaces become overshadowed by disputes
over fair wages, the true mission of education suffers.

Faculty are the heart of any university. They ignite curiosity, cultivate critical
thinking, and inspire students to challenge convention. Yet, when educators
must fight for wages that allow them to live with dignity, it sends a troubling
message – not only to faculty but to students as well. If those who dedicate
their lives to teaching and mentorship are undervalued, what lesson
are we imparting to the next generation? That passion and integrity are
negotiable? That knowledge can thrive under constant financial strain?
A university’s strength is not in its infrastructure but in its people – its
teachers and students. When faculty are supported, respected, and fairly
compensated, they can focus fully on what truly matters: awakening
creativity, encouraging independent thought, and shaping confident,
compassionate graduates.
Resolving this situation is not just about ending a strike — it’s about
reaffirming our shared belief that education should be built on respect,
not compromise.

This is how “Our Working Conditions Are Their Learning Conditions”

PT faculty spend less time with students.
Why? We work multiple jobs, are not on campus that often, and often do not have dedicated private office space.

What’s the impact? We are less able to offer face-to-face meetings with students, have less time and flexibility for meeting with students due to other jobs, and are less able to foster strong connections with students and to provide mentorship to students.

How to change this? With higher wages and (some) job security we wouldn’t need to work other jobs (as much) and would have more time for students. With contracts issued earlier in the year we would be more able to prepare in advance of the semester leaving more time during the semester to meet with students instead of doing last-minute course preparation.

PT faculty have less time for course development and class preparation.
Why? We work multiple jobs and have to make decisions about how best to allocate our time across all those jobs, which means less time for any individual course development and/or class preparation. Low wages disincentivize spending too much “extra” time on course development or preparing for class as more work simply brings down our hourly wage (often below minimum wage) because we are only paid per course, not for any set number of hours for that course.

What’s the impact? PT professors are disincentivized from putting in a lot of time and effort into course development and class preparation to make the courses students are taking more academically rigorous, up-to-date, engaging and/or accessible/inclusive.

How to change this? With higher wages we would be able to give more time to individual courses because it would no longer be at such a financial loss to invest more time. Higher wages would also reduce our reliance on other sources of income, which would free up more time overall. With greater job security (like knowing you will teach a course more than once), we can take more risks to innovate in or update an old course or design a new course. With contracts issued earlier in the year we would be able to start course development and class preparation much sooner and have more time to thoughtfully consider how best to run a new course or update an old one.

PT faculty have a high turnover rate.
Why? Most PT faculty hold a graduate degree and possess significant expertise. However, low wages, no job security, and no benefits make this financially unsustainable as a long-term career for most people. In addition, most PT faculty have other jobs which means their schedules change a lot and they may not be able to teach the same courses each year.

What’s the impact? Students end up taking courses from new faculty who are not integrated into the department and are unaware of departmental culture or instructional practices. This high turnover rate means courses taught by PT faculty may not be (fully or at all) aligned with departmental goals or culture, and may vary significantly year-to-year or even semester-to-semester. In addition, new PT faculty lack institutional knowledge and may not be able to effectively refer students to important university support resources.

How to change this? Any improvement to job security and higher wages would make teaching as a PT faculty member much more attractive and decrease turnover rate. In order to both attract and maintain talent such as industry experts, professionals with graduate degrees, and PT faculty with PhDs, teaching a course at a university needs to be financially worth it and a positive experience.

Support PT Faculty. Support Student Learning.

Dear Isabelle and Members of MSVU Senior Leadership and Board of Governors,

As a Mount Part-Time Academic and member of the Halifax community, I am writing in response to the Campus-Wide Bulletin circulated earlier today. I found this message both a disappointing breach of good faith bargaining and a disingenuous representation of the offers currently on the table.

I ask that you please take a moment to hear me out. As many of you know, the Mount’s part-time faculty are among the lowest paid in the country. We design and teach over half of the university’s courses, support and mentor your students, and contribute meaningfully to the intellectual and cultural life of this institution. Yet we do so with little to no job security and for a per-course stipend that ranks near the bottom nationally.

The Board’s decision to present its offer in percentages obscures a stark and persistent pay disparity between Mount contract faculty and our peers across the country. Our current per-course stipend is 29.59% below the 2024 national median Step One stipend of $8,058. The raise you have proposed for 2025 would still leave us 11.14% below that national average. Meanwhile, the Local’s request for a flat-rate stipend of $8,435—which you have characterized as unreasonable—remains 11% below the national average flat-rate stipend ($9,371 across 18 Canadian institutions). These figures show that our bargaining team is asking for a modest and long-overdue correction after years of undervalued teaching labour. This correction is all the more urgent as Halifax’s cost of living continues to rise, now ranking among the highest in the country.

As a proud member of this community, I believe deeply in the Mount’s publicly stated values and its social justice mission. Yet it is difficult to reconcile that mission with an employer that continues to extract as much labour as possible for as little pay as possible from its most precarious academic employees. Like most of my colleagues, I hold a PhD, have completed postdoctoral research, published in my field, and have a strong record of research, teaching and mentorship. Unlike my full-time colleagues, however, I lack access to a regular office, job security, health benefits, and pension contributions. My income is not sufficient to meet the cost of living without ongoing financial strain and debt.

I love teaching Mount students—they are among the hardest-working, most engaged, and most conscientious students I’ve encountered in my career. Like so many of my part-time colleagues, I’m deeply devoted to undergraduate teaching and learning. But I also know that we cannot give our students the time and attention they deserve when we’re stretched so thin—many of us, myself included, are commuting between multiple teaching jobs just to piece together a living. We do this work without the security of an institutional home, reapplying for our own positions term after term. We do it because we care deeply about post-secondary teaching and about our students’ learning. But I, like many of my colleagues, am increasingly exhausted and disheartened by the sustained exploitation and institutional disrespect that come with being treated as second-class academics.

You describe the Board’s offer as “reasonable,” yet it includes no pay increase for 2024 and continues to signal that the Mount undervalues the most vulnerable members of its academic community. I stand firmly and proudly with our bargaining committee in their refusal to recommend any agreement that fails to demonstrate genuine respect for the essential contributions of part-time academics; all of whom are highly trained professional educators who are central to the Mount’s teaching mission and to the success of its students.

We are indispensable to the functioning of this institution, and we expect a fair deal that reflects that fact.

Sincerely,
Larissa Atkison, PhD
Part-Time Academic
Mount Saint Vincent University

I have never picketed before and was not sure what to expect when I showed up last Monday for the first of three full days of picketing. I’m an introverted person and had planned to mostly keep to myself, but I quickly found that it was much more enjoyable than I had expected. Yes, I did still keep my earbuds in so that I could take a break from talking and listen to an audiobook every now and then. And yes, I did spend more time by myself than others did so that I wouldn’t get too overwhelmed. But it was genuinely a positive experience, despite the biting winds, the signs blowing away, and the cars that didn’t seem to notice when we tried to cross the street!

On Monday, I donned a pink CUPE hat, pulled a pink CUPE t-shirt over my hoodie, wrapped a warm pink fleece scarf around my neck, and picked up a pink CUPE flag and started walking back and forth along the street. I chatted with colleagues in my department that I hadn’t seen for years, as after Covid, most of the part-time profs started to only come to campus just for the hours they were teaching. I rediscovered the camaraderie I didn’t know I had missed in talking to them. However, I hadn’t appreciated just how physically draining it would be to walk for five hours straight. So I took a colleague’s advice and brought my own chair on Tuesday. I’ll admit, I felt a little awkward bringing a camping chair on the bus Tuesday morning, but it was definitely worth it.

I started Tuesday by making my own sign. I’m no artist – I successfully avoided doing most crafts when my children were little by encouraging them to craft with relatives! – but I channeled my inner artist nonetheless. My sign said “Part-time profs teach (at least) 1/5 of SMU classes” to highlight the fact that part-time faculty are an integral part of SMU and most students are likely affected by this strike given how many courses part-time faculty teach. I felt a little self-conscious sitting down for much of the day, but I knew I didn’t want to have the same hip and leg pain as the previous day so I held my sign down to avoid it blowing into my face (a futile endeavour to be honest!) and smiled and waved at passing cars and students. We sang and danced to music to keep our spirits high – and ourselves warm – and appreciated the students who took pink scarves and small flags and pins to wear in support.

By Wednesday, I was getting into the groove of picketing and felt a lot more comfortable talking to other profs from different departments and swapping stories. So many of us had similar experiences of loving what we do, but not loving the working conditions or the pay. It was encouraging when people from other local unions stopped by to show solidarity, and it felt like a collective hug to know others were rooting for us. As introverted as I am, it was a lovely experience, and it felt really good to be doing something so important with so many other passionate and thoughtful people. It’s not always easy to be on the picket line, but the people on the picket line with me those three days made me feel welcome and valued. And ultimately, that’s what we all want to feel. 

I’ve taught the same course every single year at SMU for over a decade but every single year I have to apply for it again and hope I’ll be able to teach it again. I just wish I could have some job security and could actually plan ahead!

While I have a lot of control over how I run the courses I teach, I have no control at all over whether I’ll be able to teach in any given semester or what courses I’ll be able to teach. That uncertainty is really hard to deal with as I’m the primary source of income for my family.

Although I’m a “part-time professor”, this is my full-time job! I have cobbled together a full-time job in terms of hours by teaching multiple courses each semester across SMU, MSVU and Dal but there are no “full-time” benefits that go with it.

If I wasn’t so passionate about teaching my students, I would definitely find a different job – one with job security, benefits like health insurance, and higher pay!

Being a professor is a source of passion and joy for me. But it’s also a source of stress as I work contract-to-contract and can never plan ahead more than a few months as I don’t know what I’ll be teaching or where!

I’m on strike because students deserve to be taught by professors who are being paid fairly for their work.

Being paid low wages to teach a university course disincentivizes part-time professors to put in a lot of work and really make the class amazing! I still DO put in lots of work, but it ultimately means my “hourly pay” is way below minimum wage. If I put in 1000 extra hours of work or 0 extra hours of work, I still get paid the same. (Poorly!) It would be lovely to just focus on how to have the best course possible, without always worrying about how little I’m being paid to do the work.

Originally posted as COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 101 by Jeff McKeil (Canadian Association of University Teachers) in 2016

2025 Additions by Aiden Farrant

Edited by Sophie J. Boardman

Navigating the different stages of the bargaining process can be challenging, especially for precarious workers like those in Local 3912 who may be used to legislation and procedures from other provincial or international districts. This article is to serve as a primer, highlighting key tasks for the Local’s Negotiating Committee, its volunteer support, and the Employer at crucial stages. We hope it will help you, our Members, engage constructively when you come out to support the Local.

What is Collective Bargaining?

Collective bargaining is a process for identifying and resolving conflicts over the terms and conditions of employment. It is a structured conversation about what academic staff really do, and about how their work should be recognized and compensated.

The process by which the Employer and the Union come to an agreement over terms relating to the workplace, and can include but is not limited to:

• pay rates 
• seniority and hiring 
• duties of work
• working conditions and safety concerns
• workspaces and job materials
• benefits and pensions
• academic freedoms
• training opportunities
• relationships between Supervisors and Employees

The Bargaining process is prescribed by the Trade Union Act in Nova Scotia, and has been intentionally designed so that what is finally agreed to through the process of good faith bargaining is what the parties themselves agreed to, based on the particular working environment and employment relationship.

The effectiveness of the Local at ensuring the Employer is compelled to offer ‘concessions’, or agree to what the Negotiating Committee proposes, is proportional to its collective organization, which amplifies Members’ voices. Collective Bargaining is fundamentally a power relationship in which each side’s relative power is leveraged at the table to achieve their goals.

How does Collective Bargaining work?

The process generally follows these steps:

• Preparation:

In this stage, the Local and the Employer appoint their respective Negotiating Committees. In the Local’s case, this happens at a Unit Meeting (either special or regular annual) where one or two members at large are elected to committee seats, along with the Unit Vice-President. The Local’s President and National Servicing Representative are also included on Negotiating Committees, the latter serving as Chief Negotiator.

The Negotiating Committees then solicit feedback from the Membership about what key bargaining issues are. To ensure and enhance the Union’s collective strength, Negotiating Committees work hard to fairly represent the interests of all its membership and ensure that improved working conditions are being sought for all. Employers will often pit working classifications against each other (for example, Part-Time Faculty against Teaching Assistants), therefore Negotiating Committees must strive to identify unifying issues that can unite these classifications for more effective negotiations.

Member feedback is then crafted into a proposed Collective Agreement (also called “proposals” when described as specific articles of a proposed Collective Agreement). Depending on bargaining timelines, these proposals may be presented to the membership for approval. Often member feedback is received relatively recently before proposals are crafted, so Negotiating Committees proceed directly to exchanging them with the Employer.

• At the Table:

Once proposals are drafted, it is time for the Negotiating Committee to meet its counterparts from the Employer and exchange proposed Collective Agreements. However, each team must first come to an agreement on ground rules they will use when bargaining (e.g., meeting location, cost sharing, identification of each chief spokesperson, etc.). Occasionally, one side will refuse to provide meeting dates or reply to correspondence in a timely manner. In these situations, a request to the Labour Board generally compels the belligerent side to cooperate.

Once procedure is established, each side now takes a turn making an opening statement outlining overall goals and their respective written proposals, which can include supporting verbal explanations and documentation. Generally, financial proposals (those relating to wages, pensions, and benefits) are held for last, as they often cause the most disagreement between the Union and Employers. The Negotiating Committees move through proposals systematically, looking for areas of agreement and compromise. The Negotiating Committees might withdraw from the bargaining table for brief breaks, called “caucuses”, to discuss where compromises can be made without the other team hearing. 

• Conciliation:

If the Employer and the Union cannot reach an agreement that the Union believes its members will support, such as when the Union is asked to give up a proposal deemed non-negotiable by its Membership, then the negotiations are at an impasse. In this case, both parties can agree to move into conciliation, where a neutral third party called a “Conciliator” is appointed by the Labour Board. 

The Conciliator meets with both parties and reviews the outstanding proposals before drafting a report. The report contains suggestions for updated proposals that the Conciliator deems fair for both parties. However, the Conciliator’s report may still not support proposals deemed non-negotiable by the membership, prompting further action.

• Job Action:

Although not formally a component of bargaining, labour stoppages and other forms of organized striking give increased leverage to Negotiating Committees helping them ensure favourable tentative Collective Agreements for their members. Once conciliation has been attempted, a Unit can call on its membership to deliver a Strike Mandate by holding a Strike Vote. According to the Trade Union Act, those who will be affected by a strike are eligible to cast a ballot in a Strike Vote. CUPE 3912 has interpreted this in the past and present to mean those who have active contracts at the time of the strike vote. More than half of those with current contracts have to vote YES to support a strike for the Local to achieve a Strike Mandate. If a member chooses not to vote, this is counted as a NO vote. . 

If the vote is successful, showing that the Membership is ready to support the Negotiating Committee with job action, then final bargaining attempts can occur. In these final sessions, the Negotiating Committee can flaunt the strike mandate and promise the Employer a major headache if a strike is called.

If these final sessions aren’t fruitful, then the Local can call a strike, provided certain timelines in the Trade Union Act are respected. During a strike, the Negotiating Committee continues to meet with the Employer. Once both a satisfactory tentative Collective Agreement, as well as a Return To Work Agreement (which covers issues of lost wages during the strike, outstanding work, and other conditions relating to restarting regular duties), the strike can be called off. 

• Ratification:

Once both the Negotiating Committee and the Employer are satisfied with a tentative Collective Agreement, it is brought to the membership for approval in a process known as “ratification”. Here, if a majority of those who vote (not those eligible to vote like in the Strike Vote) support the tentative Collective Agreement, it is ratified. If the ratification vote fails, then the Negotiating Committee returns to the table. Along with job action (i.e. striking), presenting a tentative Collective Agreement to the membership and having it be voted down resoundingly is a strategy that Negotiating Committees can use to coerce more favourable outcomes from the Employer.

How can the Membership support bargaining efforts?

Throughout the bargaining process, Members’ voices are given opportunities to be heard. In fact, what drives negotiations are the needs and wants of the Membership, as the Negotiating Committee is only empowered to ask for what the Membership wants when crafting proposals, and can only commit to staying at the table so long as they have Membership support (through having a mobilized membership, having a strike mandate, having ratification vote fail strategically, etc.). 

So what is the Union actually asking of Members? Well, during the preparation phase, the Negotiating Committee needs to hear any and all perspectives on the workplace. That means answering surveys, attending town halls, corresponding with your VP and Steward, and letting the Union know where they can advocate for improvement in your working conditions. Often in Local 3912’s case, specific improvements are already covered by the previous Collective Agreement, which is simply not being followed. In that case the VP and/or Steward can help solve issues with a formal grievance, but that’s another article.

While the Negotiating Committee is at the table, it still needs Members’ attention. The Committee will periodically update the membership with what compromises it might have to make, and ask the membership to narrow in on what its non-negotiables will be (i.e. what the Membership will go on strike to ensure it gains). New proposals can’t be added at this time, that’s a sign of bargaining in bad faith, but member testimonials can help ensure the Employer understands the need for specific proposals. 

The time for major support from members comes during Job Action. Participation in a strike vote is a must to ensure a Strike Mandate is gained. Once it is, escalation to work stoppages and refusal to be “replacement workers” (formerly known as “scabs”) who continue to perform their workplace duties is crucial to ensuring the Employer understands the importance of its unionized workers. Here, participating however you can in picketing, mobilization and outreach, or simply refusing to work until the Employer agrees to negotiate constructively and agree to the Union’s proposals is essential to ensuring a Collective Agreement with improved protections for all members.

We need your support to ensure that the exploitation of precarious workers ceases. Your Local advocates hard for fair wages, job security, reasonable duties, and a safe environment. With your help, we can ensure that this vision becomes a reality. Please contact your VP and/or Steward for how you can help with your Unit’s current bargaining stage and direction. 

If you have more questions about Strike votes and Striking, head to these FAQ pages on our website: 

• Strike Vote FAQ
• Strike FAQ